#please these four characters have such an interesting dynamic and are integral to each others development please

[fancygremlin]

I am rotating Arthur Lester inside my head so fast.

In Part 31 Arthur admits to not love Bella, describing their relationship as wrong.

We know Bella is a religious woman, her dad is a Freemason after all. In fiction, religion is often linked to purity, absolution and unconditional love and acceptance. Hence, we can deduce that Arthur saw Bella’s love as boundless, forgiving, pure and absolute in his regards… And he felt deep down that it was wrong, that he didn’t deserve it and shouldn’t have even been offered it in the first place.

However, if we go back to Part 28, we have this scene:

Where we find that Arthur is fully ready to accept (dying and) a whole eternity of torture and damnation in the Dark World, as long as his (one and only) friend will meet him there.

It’s insane that he cannot conceive of someone genuinely and unconditionally loving him, but is certain that the only form of affection he deserves must be woven in punishment or suffering.

I think it makes everything about him slowly learning to accept Oscar (a clergyman)’s friendship a whole lot more significant… and makes it a whole lot more painful how he presented it as an offering for the King in Yellow to take away and erase from his memories in Part 40.

[satoshi-mochida]

Rabbit & Bear Studios, a Tokyo-based studio formed by key creators of the Suikoden series, has announced Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, an ambitious new RPG planned for release in fall 2022. A Kickstarter campaign seeking $500,000 USD in funding for a PC release—with a single stretch goal to unlock PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Switch versions (or next-gen Switch, if one is available)—will run from July 27 at 9:00 a.m. PT / 12:00 p.m. ET to August 28. A trailer will also debut when the campaign launches.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is led by Suikoden I and II veteran scenario writer Yoshitaka Murayama, alongside series veterans Junko Kawano, Osamu Komuta, and Junichi Murakami. The project marks the first time these four creators have worked on a game together, as well as the first time Murayama and Kawano have collaborated in 25 years.

“The first thing we decided when our members came together was, ‘It’s about time we made a really interesting game that we ourselves want to make,'” project lead Murayama said in a press release. “We chose Kickstarter in order to make an interesting game with the players in mind, hold the rights to the planning, world, and story of the game, all while keeping the fun of the project. Please lend us your support in this new challenge of ours! We promise to create something that heeds the call of your voices.”

Speaking to Gematsu, Murayama shared more information on the game’s similarities to Suikoden and what elements of the series will carry over.

“Eiyuden Chronicle is about war, or more importantly, the intention and feelings of the 100 heroes who fight that war from a variety of perspectives and for a variety of different reasons,” Murayama told Gematsu. “And of course the drama that can only occur when a group of different people from different walks of life come together and must wage a war of life and death.”

Murayama continued, “And the many characters that participate in this war aren’t just pawns added in as ‘war fodder,’ they have a living breathing soul and begrudgingly must fight to protect the things they believe in. Additionally, there are non-combat specialists, researchers, and other ‘heroes’ on the periphery that can help win battles or lose them. Each and every one of them is a living breathing character that the player gives life to through their choices.”

Each character has their own strengths and weaknesses that can be leveraged to help the player form a balanced team.

“Some characters are good are some things and bad at others,” Murayama explained. “But if you combine them with other characters that can strengthen their weaknesses, you can end up with a really balanced team. And based on that delicate balance your team make be more apt at mining or adventuring which will affect the overall game progression loop. One of the core game loops in Eiyuden is to experience the wide variety of different characters and personalities in your 100 person army.

“With each new character your ‘fortress town’ grows in size and ability. It is a key system in the game. As you increase your teammates, some members will be blacksmiths, some chefs and whether on the battlefield or not, each character will play a role in strengthening your resolve as an army. There are guilds that you can join which will largely change the visual make-up of your fortress town and grant different abilities. The more people you recruit, the stronger the snowball effect. As you level up, new trade options appear along with enemies and thieves that randomly attack your town in an effort to impede your progress. You need to make choices whether to strengthen your walls or hasten your progress. Each choice will make every play session feel different and have its own consequences.”

According to Murayama, all of this is “just the tip of the iceberg,” meaning that fans can expect much more to come.

Here is an overview of the game, via Rabbit & Bear Studios:

■ About

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is an ode to the classic Japanese RPG genre from the PlayStation era that will feature classic Japanese RPG exploration and battles in high-resolution 2.5D graphics, pixel-based characters, a story of war and friendship, a diverse cast of 100 unique heroes to join the protagonist’s endeavor, and a fortress building system to grow their army.

The game will feature a guild system that allows players to change their fortress attributes based on the guild they join. Battles will be turn-based with parties of up to six members and feature dynamic boss battles that change camera angle and rotate depending on the environment.

■ Studio and Staff

Rabbit & Bear Studios

Founded March 26th, 2020 by Yoshitaka Murayama, Rabbit & Bear Studios asks the age old question, what do gamers really want? It’s something we must never forget as creators. To continually focus on giving the fans the experience they really want.

We have created Rabbit & Bear Studios as the first step in realizing that dream and to have the responsibility that comes with it. That’s our core philosophy and we plan to lead by our actions.

Staff

Story: Yoshitaka Murayama (Suikoden, Suikoden II, The Alliance Alive)

Character Design: Junko Kawano (Suikoden, Suikoden IV, Arca Last)

System Design and Direction: Osamu Komuta (Suikoden Tierkreis, Suikoden Tactics, Arca Last)

Art Direction and Production: Junichi Murakami (Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, OZ)

Composers: Michiko Naruke (Wild Arms series), Motoi Sakuraba (Tales of series), and more.

■ Story

Welcome to the Continent of Allraan

“Our story begins in one corner of Allraan, a tapestry of nations with diverse cultures and values.

By dint of sword, and by way of magical objects known as “rune-lenses,” the land’s history has been shaped by the alliances and aggressions of the humans, beastmen, elves, and desert people who live there.

The Galdean Empire has edged out other nations and discovered a technology that amplifies the rune-lenses’ magic. Now, the Empire is scouring the continent for an artefact that will expand their power even further.

It is on one such expedition that Seign Kesling, a young and gifted imperial officer, and Nowa, a boy from a remote village, meet each other and become friends.

However, a twist of fate will soon drag them into the fires of war, and force them both to reexamine everything they believe to be right and true.”

■ Characters

Nowa (Default Name)

Sex: Male

Age: 17 years old

Home: A remote village in the League of Nations

Favorite Food: Anything with meat in it

“That’s who I am. A meddler. Always will be—just ask Leene. So don’t tell me to do nothing. I may not be able to help them, but I have to at least try.”

When the League of Nations recruits warriors to assist in a joint expedition with the Galdean Empire, our protagonist answers the call and leaves his remote village to test his skills. On the mission, he finds an ancient rune-lens, unaware that the discovery will spark a war between the League and the Empire. After the conflict begins, he joins a unit in the League’s border guard.

The protagonist is the “leap before you look” type. He doesn’t always weigh the pros and cons before springing to action, and while his constant need to involve himself in other people’s problems sometimes creates headaches for his companions, they like him for it and know his heart is in the right place. After all, if they ever got into trouble, he’d be the first person there.

Seign Kesling

Sex: Male

Age: 18 years old

Home: A noble house in the Galdean Empire

Favorite Food: Poached eggs

“I can dream all I want, but it won’t change a thing. The world is not that kind. So if the only way to achieve my ideals is to betray them first, then I will do that—unflinchingly. You have my word.”

The second-born son to House Kesling, a powerful imperial family. His older brother died on the battlefield. Seign is exceptionally gifted; after achieving outstanding grades at military academy, he was placed in command of a company of his peers and sent on the expedition to find the ancient rune-lens. During the mission, he meets the protagonist. The two warm to each other as they overcome adversity, and they learn of one another’s ambitions.

Seign’s strategic mind allows him to analyze things from a broad perspective and make sound decisions. People often confuse his clear mind for a cold heart, but he is guided by strong ideals and a deep passion to fulfill them.

After his brother’s death during a border rebellion, Seign began to think long and hard about what it means to fight.

Marisa

Sex: Female

Age: 16 years old

Profession: One of the Guardians who watches over the forest

Favorite Food: Herbed chicken

“You just leave the forest to me. I know where the water springs, where the rabbits burrow—and most importantly, where your enemies will try to hide.”

A young member of the Guardians, a clan that hallows and protects the forest. Since Marisa was very little, her family has instilled their ways and traditions in her. She has a warm, affable smile—except on the battlefield, where she wears the countenance of a warrior.

Although the Guardians live as one with the forest, they have respect for the outside world’s culture and technology, and they are not against integrating the parts of it that make sense to them. Marisa is particularly forward-thinking in this regard, and loves new things—especially cute things.

Over the generations, the Guardians have developed a unique method of wielding the rune-lenses. For that reason, both the Empire and the protagonist try to win them over to their camp. Whom the Guardians choose will prove to be a major turning point in history.

Melridge

Sex: Male

Age: 27 years old

Profession: A scholar of natural history

Favorite Food: Duck soup

“You should lay down arms and surrender. That’s the quickest way to end this… No? Very well. Then I suppose I’ll provide you with the next best thing: a winning strategy.”

A young scholar who specializes in natural history. He yearns to know of every last thing in the world, and exactly how it got there. He also happens to be a genius tactician, and will be a valuable asset to the protagonist.

That said, he views warfare as the most pointless of all human endeavors, and any personal contributions to it as a complete waste of time.

Garr

Sex: Male

Age: 32 years old

Profession: Warrior in a clan of mercenaries

Favorite Food: Pancakes slathered with whipped cream

“Only a soft-brained leader runs headlong into danger. Anyone who knows what’s good for him will tell you you’ve lost it, kid. But not me. If blaze-of-glory’s your thing, count me in. We all die in the end. Might as well make it interesting.”

A veteran beastman warrior. He and his clan make their living as mercenaries, and their vast experience and sheer brutality put them in high demand. War is all Garr has known, and to him life is one battlefield after the other until you die.

When a conflict breaks out, every army wants as many beastmen as they can afford. Because mercenary contracts are made with individuals and not the entire clan, it is not uncommon for Garr and his fellow beastmen to face each other as enemies in the field.

Lian

Sex: Female

Age: 16 years old

Home: A martial arts dojo

Favorite Food: Super-spicy ramen

“Uhh, maybe I’m dumbing this down a little, but—like—if a bunch of arrogant swine strut into YOUR home and started acting like they owned the place, what would YOU do? ‘Cause there’s your answer.”

After the Empire’s forces invade League lands, Lian is infuriated and runs away from home…without even the slightest semblance of a plan. She decides the first thing to do is hoof it to the biggest town she can find, and luckily that’s where she meets the protagonist and his companions.

Lian was born in a dojo, and her father wasted no time in teaching her. She was doing roundhouse kicks before she even learned to walk properly.

Mio

Sex: Female

Age: 27 years old

Home: The Far East

Favorite Food: Bamboo-wrapped sasa dumplings

“The road you walk is one, and yet its endpoints are myriad. You can still choose where the road takes you.”

A swordswoman who is journeying to perfect the way of the blade. She has a stoic personality and rarely speaks, unless it’s to challenge someone she views as a worthy opponent.

When she does open her mouth to say something, it’s straight to the point and usually dripping with wisdom, so the people around her have taken to calling her “sensei.” However, even the greatest of senseis do have the occasional brain fart…

■ World

The Waterstead of Quinja

The Seaside Cavern

Watch a gameplay teaser video below. View the first screenshots and artwork at the gallery.

[astro-break]

Thoughts on the third ep of Hypmic Rhythm Anima (as always, spoilers beware but not only for the anime itself but for future things covered in the Drama CD and the Manga. If you’re an anime only, those are marked with a *)

Right off the bat. Super disappointed that it isn’t a MTC episode. I wanted an MTC episode. :((((

Still got my MTC crumbs this week tho and I think I can hold out until next week which hopefully will give me the MTC episode I so desperately want (Yes, i have a division bias and i’m not afraid to show it)

Jakurai entertaining kids are just so cute. I think its very very precious.

* Also. What kind of doctor is Jakurai anyways? So far we know that he’s a councilor/therapist (helps Doppo w/ his anxiety), a pediatrician (he helped a kid), a family doctor (I think i might be wrong on this one), a surgeon (In the FP vs MTC manga he’s shown preforming surgery), a hitman/assassin (:/ yeah evil line records seems intent on retconning this one), a battle field medic (he’s state to be one during WWIII) and now he’s getting called into the orthopedic (things concerning the musculoskeletal system) and gastroenterology (working w. the digestive system) department, two things that have nothing in common with each other. And I’m sure I’m missing some. There is no way in hell this man can do all that he’s 35 for fucks sake. You’d be old and grey before you could learn and complete the credentials needed to work half of these jobs

Nice to now that theres some hints of jakurai’s past. I have a feeling that we’ll be seeing more of the detective later in the story, esp for Matenrou

Doppo being overworked as usual *sigh*. When will the man ever rest? Never... Though im a bit skeptical as to why one of his co-workers calls him doppo. this is a work environment, usually he’d be called “Kanonzaka” for the least amount of informality. seems sus to me. Though his depiction of his insecurities is nice

I love how his first reaction is to call Hifumi and as him if he’s killed anyone. Peak bromance guys. 

Honestly Doppo’s method of trying to calm down is nice but not at all effective. He has the right mindset of calming down and letting his body breath, but the way he goes about it is... eh. 

Tom and Iris’ argument is hilarious and I really want to see more of them and Rex! Can’t wait to see what happens with these three new characters

Iasdgfjsd;flkasjdflkasdjfkasdlvn ajsdk, MTCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

MY BPOYS OH MY GOD RIOU NEVER CHANGE

fsajghasdf i love them asdhfoiksldjfasdfj riou’s food looks so so so so so good omgggggg

Samatoki respecting the fuck outta Jakurai is amazing and I never get tired of their father-child kind of relationship (yes jakurai is a dad to TDD fight me.)

The Riou and Samatoki interactionnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ah my heart!! they know each other so well and play off each others strengths. its so cute and I love how Samatoki knows his teammates well enough to know when to play each of his pieces. He isn’t just some brute who speaks through his fists, but he does use his head too. I think this is one of the reasons why he’s also high up on the Yakuza ladder since he’s not only brawny but also brainy

EAT RIOUS FOOD SAMATOKI

ah yes, Jyuto kneeing a bitch. just what I needed to see on a stressful friday thank you for feeding me

I love MTC, im very happy with the MTC crumbs. Since MTR showed up in BB’s ep last week, i really really hope that next week’s ep will be MTC

There it is. Jakurai’s “Jitsuni Kyoumibukai” line

lolololololol the sound effects for MTR is hilarious. Though please give Doppo a break, man deserves it

Jaku’s hair man. its beautiful

Again, please give Doppo a break, he deserves with the 4 joints that they attacked

They say 3 times, but they attacked 4 places?? Did they not report one of them?

Ahhhhh the DoHifu interaction on the temple grounds is both hilarious and cute. Though I can’t help but feel bad for Doppo

* Huh, Jaku did you get that from your hitman days loll

Oh man host mode. Though I like how Doppo recognizes when Host Mode is  a legitimate shield that Hifumi needs and is willing to give him that shield when he needs it. God I love their dynamic]

wow... yet another female stalker for Hifumi... very original. This is pretty similar to the stalker girl from the manga and CD

Lol callback to when Doppo was in the toilet and trying to calm down. 

pffft the girl is so weird. I can’t stand her or Uwabami. 

The plot is so convoluted holy shit. Is this a drama now? (I’ve never watched any c-dramas or k-dramas so I’m the furthest thing from a voice of authority but this seems like a drama show plot lmao.)

This is just a drama at this point lol. Misunderstandings, plot twists and cheesy shit all over the place. Its a badly written and hilarious drama thats for sure

Someone please write a fic where instead of the hypmic universe, the boys are all in a tv drama show plot and their hijinks bc it would fit perfectly. please

Ah, Doppochin snapped~ He’s very interesting once he gets fired up and thats when I really really like MTR. Don’t get me wrong, I love them normally but its when they get down to it that really makes me squeal in delight

Oh! So i think each character gets their own personalized intro w/ their speakers, not just the leaders. Thats honestly so so so cool. The 3D didn’t get in the way of the sequence and was really flashy and smooth. I love how they show the transformation and reveal of the mic and speaker. Honestly the Anime has so many good takes on thigs that aren’t touched on often in the franchise.

The rap was honestly fire this time around. I love it and have replayed it almost 20 times. According to the ending credits its called Welcome U which is so cute for such a funny and badass song. The strong base beat and imagery were so strong and included a lot of homages to things that really matches both Shinjuku, Matenrou and the lyric’s themes and they’re really small but important details! The humor was on point without sacrificing any of the amazingly cool elements and the three distinct styles of rap were integrated in such a catchy melody!

EG) the verse All Year Round features a quick shot of the four seasons and the things most prominently associated with each season. Spring has cherry blossoms and flower viewing, Summer has festivals, Fall and Winter have food that corresponds to events that happen in those seasons.

Doppo’s line of “The flea counters w/ a bite” is so so so cute bc he’s got a little w at the end and thats jp chatspeak for a laugh and skjdfhsdjfkslad adorable

Hifumi picking up right after and asking if Doppo is okay is just. Goals. And his gratutious english works really well and is super smooth! Very very good

Also the small homage to The Champions with Hifumi’s “Jump around” line and the format where Hifumi takes separate lines than Jaku and Doppo. Its a brilliant way to sneak these references in and they’ve kept that theme going from last episode

Foreshadowing with “We’re the true leader, Matenro!” Nice touch there lol.

Lol of course its attempted murder. Still gotta keep this PG 13 even though theres swearing abound

The ending w/ mimimi..... leaves me kind of torn since i don’t like how it ended but they did provide some nice advice. i guess

lsdf;jsalkdfjsldf Hifumi please you’ve known Doppo for over 25 years, you should know better than anyone what his charm points are. and shouldn’t you be the one who understands Doppo’s appeal? smh

SCREEEEEEE THAT TITLE OF THE NEXT EP. if its an MTC ep i will scream even more bc asudhfsdkjflasd A friend in need is a friend indeed this is just pushing my Poly!MTC agenda isn’t it

Final thoughts:

Please please please let next week be MTC please please please

DoHifu are goals, both romantically and platonically

The rap was fire and I’m going to keep listening to it on repeat. First ep was a bit of a disappointment in terms of CGI and raps but these latest two eps are really picking up the slack! I really hope they continue this for the next two!

JAKURAI WHAT KIND OF DOCTOR ARE YOU PLEASE TELL ME

[rachelkaser]

Stay Golden Sunday: The Engagement

In my continuing efforts to find time to write about things outside of the bounds of my job, I’ve been thinking about some old friends. If I’m going to write about anything in the wreckage of 2020, I want it to be something very close to me, something I know that others remember with as much fondness as I do.

So yeah: Let’s talk about The Golden Girls.

Thank You For Being a Friend

Given everything that’s happened this year, both to the world and me, I’ve not really been so interested in watching new shows as re-watching some old favorites. And out of those, the closest to my heart is The Golden Girls. It’s the show I watched the most with my late mother -- she and I bonded from my pre-adolescence to my late twenties on this show.

I was at the perfect age to absorb this show’s lessons, even if some of the raunchier humor went over my head when I was a kid. This is the show that taught me about strong friendships, how to love well, tolerance, acceptance, grief, humility, integrity and good humor. There are so many parts of myself I can trace, in some way, to Dorothy, Sophia, Blanche, and Rose -- and through them, my mother.

And I’m far from the only one. According to a report from The New York Times, the show became incredibly popular with 18-to-34 year-olds after it began airing on Lifetime -- the article charmingly refers to us as “The Grandchildren of the Golden Girls.” As you might expect, that’s not the projected demographic for a show starring four women over the age of 50 (yes, Blanche, you really are old enough to have a 16-year-old grandson).

If I had to pick a reason, it’d be a combination of the motherly warmth of the four main characters and the novelty (and reassurance) of a show that tells you life does in fact go on when you’re no longer in the bloom of youth. The NYT article features an interview with a Lifetime exec who theorizes that it’s because the women act in a way we typically associate with youth: “They all dated, they all talked about sex, they didn't care about what people thought about them. Those are all values that younger people share.”

I agree with that sentiment, though I will add an addendum: They act the way younger people want to act. Younger people want to be carefree and fun-loving in the way that the Girls are. More often than not, young people are -- and I say this with all the fondness and self-effacement of someone about to exit their twenties -- comparative basketcases. It’s like Mark Twain said: “Life should begin with age and its privileges and accumulations, and end with youth and its capacity to splendidly enjoy such advantages.”

Of course, there’s an alternate explanation: Golden Girls is really goddamned funny.

So every Sunday, I’ll recap and review an episode from The Golden Girls. Barring extraordinary circumstances, I’ll review every episode in order. Then I’ll give some commentary on the story, highlight any of those devilish inconsistencies, and pick a favorite line. I hope some of my fellow Grandchildren of the Golden Girls enjoy some of my thoughts on the episodes.

Picture it...

With all that being said (and I promise no long intros after this point unless it’s very called for), let’s get started with the pilot episode, “The Engagement,” which originally aired in September 1985.

The show proper opens with Dorothy Zbornak and Rose Nylund asking roommate Blanche Hollingsworth about the man she’s been seeing. Blanche tells them the gallant beau in question, Harry, has proposed -- in spite of the fact that, as Rose points out, they’ve only known each other a week. And Harry wants an answer tonight.

Meanwhile, the doorbell rings, and Dorothy answers to see her mother Sophia Petrillo, who says that her nursing home burned down. As Blanche has to explain to Rose, Sophia’s cutting words are the result of her stroke destroying her inhibitions. Sophia does indeed have the subtlety and diplomacy of a Sherman tank, but she at least thinks gay cook Coco is alright.

Harry arrives and schmoozes all of the ladies, though Sophia is not impressed. After he leaves, Rose has a soliloquy about how glad she was to move in with the other ladies, as otherwise she’d be alone, with her children grown up and her husband dead, and she’s not sure what to do now with herself. Sophia’s suggestion? “Get a poodle.”

Rose and Dorothy are divided on whether or not Blanche will accept Harry’s proposal, with Rose adamant that Blanche can’t be without male attention. Blanche returns, and reveals -- after a brief argument about the movement speed of oysters -- she accepted Harry’s proposal and they’ll be married in a week. When Rose asks where she and Dorothy will live once Blanche, who owns the house, is married, Blanche responds that they can stay for as long as they like.

A week later, Blanche is preparing for her wedding. Rose pulls Dorothy aside and says there’s something about Harry that makes her suspicious, but she’s not sure what. She tries to tell Blanche to call off the wedding, but Dorothy resorts to physical restraint to stop her from ruining Blanche’s happy moment, up to and including throwing Rose into Blanche’s closet.

Harry is late to the wedding, much to the frustration of the minister -- “This is Miami. I’ve got funerals backed up.” When the doorbell rings, however, it’s a police officer (played by a pre-Designing Women Meshach Taylor), who tells Blanche that Harry has been arrested for bigamy. Harry leaves Blanche a note telling her she was special to him.

Three weeks later, Blanche is still upset and refusing to leave her room. Rose and Dorothy discuss what to do, and Sophia’s only input is to ask to be left on the curb next to the trash cans when she goes. Blanche arrives, smiling, and says the girls helped her pull through her grief. The girls all go out to celebrate with dinner, but Sophia declines as she and Coco are going to the dog track.

BLANCHE: Your mother bets?

DOROTHY: No, she rides. She’s a dog jockey.

“It’s Miami in June. Only cats are wearing fur.”

For a pilot, this episode establishes the characters, their biographies, and their dynamics with incredible economy. What you see here is what you’re going to see for the next seven seasons, at least with regards to the four women.

For example, we know the moment she opens her mouth that Dorothy is a teacher -- that teacher, specifically. She’s smart and tough enough to tell her rebellious students to leave. She also complains that “all the single men under 80 are cocaine smugglers,” establishing pretty much all you need to know about the women’s dating lives. We also known from the moment we see Rose that she’s bright, cheerful, and a grief counselor -- she probably couldn’t say a stern or unkind word if her life depended on it.

Blanche, on the other hand, has to bear the first heartbreak of the series -- meaning she’s the first who gets her negative character traits examined as well as her positives. She’s refined, graceful, and sexy on the positive side. Unfortunately, she’s also desperate for romantic affection, so much so that she accepts the proposal of a man she’s only known a week and suffers for it. I don’t think there’s an actress in the world who could have sold this as well as Rue McClanahan did.

That said, I think it’s Sophia that binds the whole episode together. Without her sass, I don’t know if the three women would have held together as well as they do. While the opening moments of the show do have some crackle to them, it’s only when Estelle Getty walks on screen that the show really comes to life. Not only does her sharp tongue pair well with Dorothy’s own witty banter, she’s a great counterpoint to Rose’s bubbleheaded buoyancy and Blanche’s genteel manners.

As is usual for pilots, not everything about this episode stayed for the rest of the show’s run. The biggest example of this is Coco, the gay cook who appears only in this episode, but there are others. For starters, Blanche’s room is in a completely different part of the house, and she’s referred to by the name “Blanche Hollingsworth.” Sophia’s smart mouth is blamed on her stroke, rather than being who she is. The entire house’s furniture, decorations, and color palette would eventually change.

Coco’s a bit of an unusual example, because it feels like even the people who made the show didn’t know what to do with him. He’s given next to nothing to do. He has no stand-out personality traits like the ladies. Even most of the shots are framed in such as way as to exclude him: For example, he’s “on-stage” for the whole kitchen scene at the beginning of the episode, but look how these shots are angled so as not to show him:

That’s bizarre because, according to Golden Girls Forever by Jim Colucci, the “gay houseboy” character was apparently pretty important in the early script treatments. All of the writers apparently wanted to see more gay characters on TV and they thought he would add variety to the cast. But even one of the people who auditioned for the role said he thought the character was cheap and drew attention away from the women. The character was eventually dropped because it didn’t make sense for the women to be living together out of financial necessity and have a live-in domestic.

I didn’t think I was going to see inconsistencies in the very first episode either, but there is at least one: Blanche tells Harry about Sophia’s home burning down, even though Blanche wasn’t in the room when Sophia told Dorothy that. These little continuity errors have become a kind of trivia for Golden Girls fans, as fondly remembered as anything in accepted canon.

Overall, I can see why this script attracted three well-known TV actresses, and why everyone at NBC fell in love with it. I’ll work out a grading system for episodes later, but for now I’ll just say I’m so, so, so pleased for myself and the world in general that they managed to capture this kind of lightning in a bottle.

Favorite part of the episode:

ROSE: I can’t eat anything that moves. DOROTHY: Like what, Rose? Horses? ROSE: Like oysters. COCO: Oysters don’t move. DOROTHY: Coco, they could dance! Who cares?!

[shrikeofficial]

📌✨🏳️‍🌈🎥💎

📌 how did you find your hyperfixation?

TUC: I actually found out about tuc after finishing the hunger games trilogy when I was about 10 or 11. I loved that trilogy so I was just HUNGRY for more good books and I really hoped the author had written other series that could hook me. Of course I saw tuc was ~for kids~ and had giant talking animals so I almost didn’t give it a chance but um. IM SO FUCKING GLAD I DID. Bc this series is damn BRILLIANT. Wouldn’t unread it for anything!!! I love it so so much.

Hanako: just found it recently actually!!! Right after episode 1 aired. I saw the anime’s art style and was immediately enraptured. Decided I would watch it even if the story ended up sucking bc the art was so gorgeous (and hanako’s seiyuu is megumi ogata). TURNS OUT I love aidairo’s art style even more than the anime’s (but they’re both amazing don’t get me wrong) also the story is SSOOO GREAT AND THE CHARACTERS ARE AWESOME SO I WAS IN FOR SUCH A TREAT. I’m so lucky....

✨ what draws you towards your hyperfixation? what is interesting about it?

TUC: there are honestly so many things I love about TUC. The characters are so lovable and dynamic. The plot is engaging and paced well. The story integrates lots of dark, important and deep themes while also being innocent enough to be marketed as a children’s book. You WILL be shocked at how dark it gets, I will just let u know. It’s so memorable and really leaves a unique feeling in your mind. The ending is one that I can never quite forget. But I think it really ended perfectly for the point it was trying to get across. (As painful as it is.) I could go on and on. I love the blurred line between “good” and “evil” and the very ambiguous characters on each side. Who is the REAL villain of TUc? Well I have my own theories, but you’ll just have to read it and find out for yourself. (Also, I love the progression of Gregor and Luxa’s relationship. It is so sweet and soft and pure and very comforting for me, and has been since I read the books when I was 10. ;W; ❤️)

Hanako: (I was first drawn to this series by the art, so I gotta just say that I am OBSESSED with aidairo’s art style.)

But I stayed for characters I absolutely adore, (all of the main four are my kids and I would do anything for them), and a really fun plot full of wacky hijinks, some time travel, fun comedy. And of course, (my favorite), an overlying plot of darkness, murder, and tragedy. I love the mystery of hanako and his past. The way they tease u with little hints and set up foreshadowing of future chapters and revelations is just //chef’s kiss// I love the way comedy is integrated through the story, so while it gets progressively darker, you can still have brief moments of reprieve and humor. Overall I find myself tearing up in one way or another almost every chapter. It really hits hard, honestly.

🎥 do you have any favorite scenes from your hyperfixation?

God I’ve got so many favorites I don’t even know how to choose. Also a lot of them are spoilers. So I’ll just try to pick moments from early on (like book 1 of tuc) to minimize that

TUC: Luxa’s entrance scene. Including getting out-smarted by a 2 year old.

When Luxa drinks the root beer “weapon”

Every instance of Gregor taunting Henry and Luxa. (I love him so much? He’s so realistic. I love that he has such a gentle heart but he WILL NOT let u mess with his friends and family. He can and will snark at u with deadly precision)

Honestly like every scene with Luxa in it. Luxa and Gregor slowly learning more about each other and coming to an understanding of each other’s differences? I.... love them so much ;;;

Speaking of, the scene where Luxa opens up about her trauma and Gregor thinks “he forgave her for everything in that moment. He even forgot why he needed to forgive her.” Why is he such a good boy? Anyway I’d do anything for them,

Hanako: hhdndndndmndhd like every moment? Uhhhh I love all of the moments when Hanako opens up about himself/his feelings. We need more of them.

Can’t say that one bc spoilers.... OR THAT ONE.... OKAY I GIVE UP JUST READ THE MANGA PLEASE

Also I love... hananene so like all their interactions make me tear up.

🏳‍🌈 do you have any headcanons (lgbt, race, neuro, etc) that are important to you?

TUC: I have SO MANY headcanons. But I’ll stick to a few. I love African American Gregor. I’ve also seen mixed race hcs for Gregor which are great too. Also Luxa has ADHD. I’m certain of this but I forgot what made me so certain. Just trust me on this tho

Hanako: My autistic Hanako hc is so important to me omg.... like I would go down with this hc

I have LOTS of headcanons ttho. About random things like Gregor’s amateur family band, Luxa’s hatred of airplanes, all Gregor’s overland friends infuriating Luxa with Rick rolls, and more

💎 are there any fun facts or trivia that you would like to share?

A lot of the ones I can think of have spoilers so I might skip out DJDNDNNDNCJC BUT

TUC: Luxa’s name comes from the word “lux” meaning “light” which is so coincidental bc she’s the light of my life. (Yeah I’ve made this joke like 20 times but it still hits for real)

Bats run into each other a lot, also, so u can just imagine Gregor and friends constantly crashing into other bats.

I lowkey wanted to call Chillie (stray cat I’m feeding) “ripred” but Chillie doesn’t have a very ripred-like personality tbh. I one day wanna have cats named Ripred and Twitchtip

Hanako: I can’t really think of any off the top of my head that aren’t spoilers IM SORRY. But my friend and I did come up with a whole warrior cats AU for hanako-kun so there’s a fun fact for u. Yeah we’re the most valid tbh

[thecloserkin]

fic rec: Are You Mine? and I Want Some More by PoetHrotsvitha

fandom: Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate

pairing: Evie Frye/Jacob Frye

word count: 54k and 50k respectively (one is a direct sequel to the other)

Is it canon: yes

Is it explicit: this is the most explicit material i have thus far reviewed on this blog

Is it endgame: yesssss

Is it shippable: yes

One thing you guys should know about me is I don’t read a great deal of smut. I don’t actively avoid it either, and I for sure consume more smut in the context of fanfic than in professional published fiction because I feel the following quote in my bones: “It wasn’t that friendship needed to be sexualized, it was that erotica needed to be … friendship-ized.” So when I stumbled on this fic that is 80% smut stretched over the thinnest pretext of plot, based on source material I have zero familiarity with, what did I do but fall headlong for this pairing and this story. Bless you, anon who brought Fryecest to my attention, and praise the Lord for modern AUs where knowledge of canon is not mandatory.

Jacob and Evie Frye are twins born into an Assassin family and raised by their exacting taskmaster of a father to take down the Templars. There’s no Templars or Assassins in this modern AU of course, just Evie’s looming A-Levels and their absent academic of a father. Evie’s still the golden child, of course—she’ll follow in their father’s footsteps and get her Ph.D. Jacob is the problem child. He’s already fallen in with the Wrong Crowd, he’s impulsive, he drinks and gambles and mostly solves problems with his fists. His relationship with their dad is hella strained. And because this is supposed to be PWP the author wastes no time in ratcheting the sexual tension up to 11 by having Jacob pick Evie up from her posh school on his MOTORCYCLE, each of them pretending not to be so turned on they could have combusted from desire by the end of the ride. Cool cool cool.

Their relationship begins barreling in a dom/sub direction almost from the word go. Evie is one thousand percent the take-charge, Type-A personality, so the idea is that she needs to relinquish that control in the bedroom, and Jacob is the only one she trusts to dominate her. Because they’re twins and they balance each other out adfkdfkdfjdkfd. The scene in the beginning where Jacob tells her not to button up her blouse while she’s making breakfast, and she actually listens to him instead of ignoring or insulting him, holy shit that was hot. It starts so small but eventually he’s got her wearing a wireless vibrator to class and begging for her “punishment” when she takes it out without his permission because it was too distracting.

I imagine this is what the 50 Shades of Grey phenomenon was about. I haven’t read 50 Shades of Grey myself, but I’ve interacted with people who rave about it and clearly got something out of those books, bad as they were. I’m not trying to compare the quality of this story to 50 Shades of Grey—it’s lightyears superior to that dreck—just that when I finished this fic I had the dazed realization that this was why people read smut.

There’s a throwaway line in Jacob’s internal monologue where he muses “they seem to be going about this backwards,” because he’s buying flowers for her the day after fingering her to a screaming orgasm, and yes I am 100% here for this trope. Ffs he sits with her in the library to keep her company while she studies! He waits for her/escorts her to her one hundred and one extracurricular activities! He’s a really immature 17-year-old and he’d never dream of doing this for anyone else, but when it comes to Evie he becomes suddenly sweet and thoughtful and solicitous. He’s constantly pausing in the middle of sex to ask for her enthusiastic & affirmative consent and reminding her to use the safe word. At the same time he’s madly jealous when anyone else shows a flicker of interest in her and he regularly makes her admit he “owns” her during their role-play. They are each other’s firsts which for some reason is really important to me in these kinds of they’re-teenagers-exploring-their-sexuality setups. This is Evie hitting up the lingerie boutique in preparation for their FIRST WEEKEND GETAWAY:

“I’m going away for the weekend with my-” Evie almost stumbled on the word, “-boyfriend.” What a strange concept.

I AM TRASH FOR THIS INCEST TROPE i love the way she stumbles over that word. Bc that’s not the box that Jacob occupies for her, is it? He’s much more than that. I love the way she alternates between begging him to put it in her cunt and calling him a prat and a shitheel; just because he’s the love of her life doesn’t make him stop being her insufferable little brother. You know what else I’m trash for? ALL the sneaking around tropes. One time while sexting with him in a storage closet at school she’s busted by one of the teachers and only barely has time to lock her phone before he confiscates it.

So the first fic ends with their dad finding the sexts and nudes on Evie’s phone, disowning them both, and Evie choosing to go to University of Edinburgh because their dad knows too many people at Oxbridge. The twins get a flat together and it’s happily ever after. Except no! In the sequel it’s ten years later and Evie and Jacob have returned to the house they grew up in to say goodbye to their dying father, and they’re ESTRANGED OH NO WHAT HAPPENED. Evie has a four-year-old in tow. We find out in fairly short order that the kid is Jacob’s, but Jacob doesn’t find out the truth until we’ve sent him through the angst wringer. The fic is about how they grieve and reconcile and how Jacob learns to parent, and this one is actually like 60% plot and I think I like it even better than the first one. This author’s note really spoke to me:

I’ve read a fair number of sibling incest modern AU fics in a few different fandoms and they all tend to end at “and then they ran away from their families and lived happily ever after/epilogue of sexy fun times possibly with the introduction of hey they've had a kid!”. And I mean I love that, don't get me wrong. But I guess I’m also weirdly preoccupied with the part about what comes after that, because it always seemed far too dreadfully simple an outcome. Normal relationships are rarely that easy, so why would these be? Then again I'm probably putting too much thought into a porn fic, LOL.

DEAR @poethrotsvitha, THIS IS A SIGNED PETITION TO PLEASE NEVER STOP OVERTHINKING THE PLOT OF YOUR PORN FICS. Like, nobody starts fucking their brother unless they really mean it, because the risk of the relationship going pear-shaped and the two of you still being stuck in each other’s orbit because there’s no “breaking up” with family? That’s a big risk. And also why incest pairings feel so high-stakes and I am trash for them, obvs. One of the reasons the dom/sub dynamic is so integral to their relationship was because Evie had a tendency to dictate to Jacob what he “can and can’t do,” and he understandably chafed against it sometimes. It’s what led to their breakup five years ago. And so him taking charge in the bedroom is a kind of counterbalance, and there’s a scene in this fic where she lets him role-play a noncon situation as a way to partly soothe his jealousy.

To a large extent it’s their son who brings about their reconciliation, but their son is also a hyperactive little git who throws a monkey wrench in their sex life, so now instead of hiding their relationship from their dad they’re tiptoeing around a four-year-old. And the big character development that happens on Jacob’s part is him recognizing that Thomas is Evie’s #1 priority now, and there comes a moment where he has to make a difficult decision to prioritize the two of them in his own life, too (by quitting his job and ending a toxic relationship). The other thing I really liked was how Jacob thinks ruefully he could have gone a another round if he were ten years younger, which he’s not, but Evie seems satisfied and that’s what matters. The recognition that he’s not a teenager anymore, and doesn’t have the stamina of one, but he’s also more mature and this time he’ll be able to give Evie what she needs? Oh, my heart. Like I said I loved them being each other’s firsts as teenagers but this, this second chance they’ve got as adults, this is beautiful.

Ok so this is Evie begging Jacob to fuck her in a closet in the middle of their dad’s funeral service??!:

“Please, I just need to forget. Just for a little bit- I need to forget, please-” Oh, God, this was a terrible idea. A terrible idea that she would die before she stopped- she felt like an addict after years of sobriety, pushed by stress and grief to needing that all-consuming high that she'd never quite been able to forget. Her fingers worked at his belt, pulling it open, unbuttoning his trousers to draw the heel of her palm along where he was already hard. “Evie,” he rasped, shuddering against her touch. “Shh,” she said, tucking his pants down enough to pull his cock free, giving it a few firm strokes. “Shh.” If they talked, it would be too real. It had to be rushed and frantic, to feel like it was just the once, to ease the ache in her chest.

And this is after they finish (“if only it could have lasted forever”):

Silently, she turned to let him zip up her dress … There was a warmth against the back of her neck as she felt him draw her hair aside and press a kiss to the sensitive skin, hesitant and uncertain.  "Thank you," she breathed into the darkness, listening to the click of his belt as it slid back into place.  He just sighed, leaning his forehead against her shoulder, saying a million things without speaking a word. 

LEANING HIS FOREHEAD FOR A MILLISECOND AGAINST HER SHOULDER OMFG I AM DECEASED

Ok so to return an earlier point: When you want a canon incest happy ending in a modern setting (as opposed to if you’re both Targaryens) the most popular option is run away and live as an unrelated couple, which necessitates cutting ties with everyone you’ve ever known. This may be more or less difficult depending on the quantity and quality of those ties; unless this is Flowers in the Attic and you’ve literally been locked in the attic for years there’s bound to be people you care about other than your sibling so this is a monumental ask. The Fryes choose option B, “living openly as siblings and keeping the incest on the dl”. This option is not without risk, of course, since exposure is always a possibility, and Evie has to put up with the other moms at Thomas’s preschool eyeing Jacob like a piece of meat. Still, it means Thomas gets to bake cookies with his grandmother, who would not have let Evie and Jacob back in her life if they flaunted the truth. I mean, it’s not that she doesn’t know her kids are fucking, it’s just that a don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy allows everyone’s relationships to remain intact:

She seemed to be struggling to get the words out. “Is Thomas…” There were a few ways that this question could go, as far as Jacob could see, and he didn’t particularly want to deal with any of them. He leaned against the counter, palms rigid against the cold surface. “I’m really tired, Mother.” “I know. I just…” There was a terrible pause. “Are— are you and Evie…” Still facing the toaster, Jacob closed his eyes. He couldn’t muster a lot of fake outrage, but he planned to deny everything anyway. He didn’t care about how plausible it was. It was easier for everyone that way, especially Mother. Before he could open his mouth, though, Mother’s chair scraped back. “Actually, never mind. It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

Every Wednesday Evie (who’s moved back in with her mom) leaves Thomas with his grandma and goes to “book club” which is really date night at Jacob’s. And the two of them get right up to their old tricks:

When he gave her just the slightest nudge upwards with his hips, she finally let a broken whisper rasp out. “I can't- I want- please-” Jacob clicked his tongue. “You know what I want you to say.” She twisted her neck around again, and he could see that her eyes were now glassy with longing. “Huh?” “It's simple— just ‘My greedy cunt belongs to my brother’. “ “I will not."

The process of turning that initial “no” into a “yes” is scorchingly hot so there you go, I love these two, I love this fic, I have definitely seen the light and I'm ready to embrace smut.

[comicteaparty]

July 15th-July 21st, 2019 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from July 15th, 2019 to July 21st, 2019.  The chat focused on Radioactive Underground by Ezra Rose.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Week Long Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Radioactive Underground by Ezra Rose~! (https://tapas.io/series/Radioactive-Underground)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Remember, though, that while we allow constructive criticism, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic. Below you will find four questions to get you started on the discussion. However, a new question will be posted and pinned everyday (between 12:01AM and 6AM PDT), so keep checking back for more! You have until July 21st to tell us all your wonderful thoughts! With that established, let’s get going on the reading and the chatting!

QUESTION 1. What has been your favorite scene in the comic so far? What specifically did you like about it?

QUESTION 2. What do you think caused Robbie’s scar that is briefly seen? Further, why is Robbie taking medicine? What might all this have to do with Griffin’s particular concern for how Robbie is doing?

ezzy

Wow what a wonderful comic surely who ever made this comic is very smart and also handsome

RebelVampire

QUESTION 3. At the moment, who is your favorite character? What about that character earns them this favor?

QUESTION 4. Which aspect of the world has caught your eye the most so far? Why does it interest you? Also, how do you think it will play a role in how the story unfolds?

RebelVampire

1) my favorite scene is probably the first scene we see robbie at maki's. i liked the little flirty dialogue and then the ultimate payoff with it at the end. like i really felt like i was in robbie's shoes during it cause i wasnt sure if there was chemistry and then the "robbie with an i e " thing really sold it for me. just a great banter setup i can really appreciate. 2) Given the opening scene, I gotta imagine Robbie was fighting monsters or w/e he fights in the underground and took on a challenge he wasnt ready for. And that probably nearly killed him and thus why the scar and medicine. Cause the medicine is probably keeping his heart going or something like that. As for Griffin's concern, Griffin gives off a kind of motherly feel to me despite the aggressive attitude. And it seems she and robbie have a sort of mother-son bond (at least a little bit). and ya know, mom's worry when their sons almost die.

3) my favorite character atm is probably robbie. While this could change as the characters become more familiar, I really just like Robbie's design. It feels edgy and relateable at the same time without being overboard. I also think it super suits his personality. 4) I'm really interested in the underground aspect of the comic. Cause it really doesn't feel like their underground, yet it's clearly a thing. And given robbie's crush isnt from the underground originally, itll be interesting to see how the cultures differ. Since there already seems to be some inequality going on. In terms of the story, I definitely think the underground's probably...status in society is probably a breeding ground for crime. hence robbie's entire life situation.

ezzy

>:3c

RebelVampire

QUESTION 5. What has been your favorite illustration in the comic so far? What specifically about it do you like?

QUESTION 6. Why do you think Yui was supposedly kicked out of the family business, and how do you think she got involved with Griffin? What theories do you have about the rest of Griffin’s crew? Alternatively, who do you most want to learn more about?

RebelVampire

QUESTION 7. Which characters do you enjoy seeing interact the most? What about their dynamic interests you?

QUESTION 8. What do you think the ultimate goal is for Griffin’s group as for why they steal? Is it just for money, or is there some larger picture? Further, what do you think Robbie’s personal investment is in the whole thing?

RebelVampire

5) My fave illustration...s is probably the ones of Griffin on this page. https://tapas.io/episode/1357536 Griffin looks so cool, and something about this up-close shot choices really made me appreciate her really cool, badass design. Instantly won my heart over as a top-contending chara for favorites. 6) Yui sort of strikes me as the type who rebels just to rebel. Like the teen who never got out of the rebellious phase because she's 2kool4skool. And from what we've seen with her relationship with her family, rebelliousness is not well-received. And I can see from her families perspective how it kind of just looks like Yui lazes around and then throws attitude. I don't really have theories about the rest of the crew, although I definitely do want to get to know the completely non-human world. They'd be a great insight into the rest of the non-humans that are in this world.

7) I probably enjoy seeing Robbie and crush chick the most. They've got really cute chemistry that just makes me squee on the inside. And I also hope he continues to be called Robbie with an i e for a while. 8) I think the answer to this question depends on perspective. Most of the crew, like Robbie and Yui, are probably just in it for the money. While I think Griffin is in it for the money, I also think she has a bigger picture idea. Like eventually aiming for the grand jewel and making people super pissed. Or more I should say, she's waiting till they can make the heist of a lifetime and retire on a beach in Hawaii. As for Robbie's personal investment, besides money, he kind of maybe just has nothing better to do? So far my impression of him is hes the type to think hes not good at a lot of stuff besides running and fighting. Thus morals be damned, lets steal things? XD Plus if he needs medicine, hes gotta pay for it somehow. So to summarize, his investment is needs money + belief in lack of job opportunities. I think if something better came along hed be heavily tempted.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 9. What sorts of art or story details have you noticed in the way the comic is crafted that you think deserves attention?

QUESTION 10. Who exactly do you think Griffin is? In other words, what’s Griffin’s backstory and why is Griffin invested in stealing? Further, why do you think Griffin keeps the group at arm’s length and has them drop her off at random locations?

RebelVampire

9) One deal I appreciate is the balance of Griffin's design. Like there's this right blend of human and non-human traits that you could even guess she was a half-breed before anybody even said anything. And being able to get that across immediately visually is really A+ work there. 10) I think Griffin was probably someone a lot like Robbie. Just in the underground, nothing to do, no opportunities, and so she took the easy route of theft. However, I think she was at least once part of a bigger organization (given the connections she has) and that she kind of betrayed them and ditched them. Like I said earlier, I think she's both in it for the money but kind of has some bigger idea picture about retiring in style or something like that. As for keeping the group at arm's length, I actually think it's to protect them. Cause she clearly seems to know dangerous folks who know her and have a bone to pick. So by not letting the others become too notorious, she keeps the heat on her.

ShaRose49

I started this one awhile ago and I thought it was very well-drawn(edited)

ezzy

Thank you i try very hard

RebelVampire

QUESTION 11. What do you think are this particular comic’s strengths? What do you think makes this comic unique? Please elaborate.

QUESTION 12. Why do you think the new girl working at Maki’s has come to the underground? What might it have to do with her relationship with her parents? Further, what role do you think she’ll play in the larger story?

spacerocketbunny

1. Favourite scene is probably the one where everyone is in the diner after the heist! The banter is fun and I like how the characters interact. Yui and Robbie are great, they act like siblings who can't stand each other but of course cover each other's asses if they get in trouble. Also the moment when Robbie meets Sky, she asks his name so she can label his food but then he asks for her name and she pauses like "why are you asking the server's name lol" 3. Ummmm Griffin because she's a mysterious babe?? Love me a stoic lady with questionable motives ;)) also Sky is so sweet, I love that she's an artist! 4. Love the demons and other folks that are integrated into the world, it's a lot of fun! I hope there'll be more interesting people to see :)

5. The latest pages with Griffin on the phone look great, great colours, nice backgrounds, I like how the colours are starting to become more dynamic! 6. Mmmm my guess is that she's a bit messy and callous and probably messed something up in the family business. Too early to make any hard speculation but if anything I think it was Yui's fault probably... I want to see more of what these heists are for, and how their group operates. I'd like to see more on Griffin and her origin since it was pointed out that she was a %100 human (I'm assuming the other half is demon?) 7. Right now Yui and Robbie because of the bickering they do, but now that I've seen Sky blush after interacting with Griffin I'm

9. I like the style of the comic, it's angular and sharp and I like the character designs! I feel like the comic's aesthetic and mood is still being realized but it's progressing with each page and I can't wait to see how it develops further! 11. Like previously mentioned I think the style is definitely a strength, it's fun and offbeat and I like that it's one that I'm not seeing in the comic scene right now. The character interaction is great too, even as early as it is I'm already invested in these characters and I want to know more about them, they're a fun lot and they all play off each other in a great way. I'm interested to see where this comic goes and how it'll develop, I'll definitely be checking back for updates

RebelVampire

QUESTION 13. What are you most looking forward to in the comic? Also, do you have any final thoughts to share overall?

QUESTION 14. Who do you think Solomon Reiki is, and what does they want with Griffin? What does this have to do with the guard who Griffin fought during the heist? What could this mean for Robbie and the rest of the crew?

RebelVampire

11) I think the comic's strength are definitely the character designs. There's a lot of personality packed into them. Not just the main characters we've seen so far but even the side characters as well. It makes for a really dynamic setting and cast that immediately catches your eye. Somehoe all the designs also really suit the tone of the story as well. 12) I feel there definitely has to have been a falling out with her parents. And she fled to the one place where she thought they would never look for her or something. Given she seems somehow hardcore herself, I could totally see her joining the crew and going on thieving adventures. Or at the very least being an informant of some sort. 13) I'm looking forward to learning more about the rest of the crew and seeing how they all play off each other. Cause that will definitely have a big impact in terms of how the heists go. 14) Given my previous theories, I think Solomon Reiki was Griffin's old boss who is super pissed at Griffin's betrayal of leaving. But until recently they havent been able to find Griffin so hence the guard. Heard some rumors and sent the guard to confirm whether its the traitor or not. Of course, this probably gonna put the rest of the crew square in sights and get them unwanted attention from bigger criminals or something like that.

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Radioactive Underground this week! Please also give a special thank you to Ezra Rose for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Radioactive Underground, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: https://tapas.io/series/Radioactive-Underground

Ezra’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ezrarose

Ezra’s Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/ezzymourao

Ezra’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/SuperSonicSoda_

[sieben9]

“last rites” impressions

{Quick request to anyone reading: I’m watching OUaT for the first time, and I want to avoid spoilers. So, if you want to discuss something spoilery, I’d be grateful if you could start a new post for that. Thank you!}

::sigh:: God, what a mess.

No, not you.

::even longer sigh::

So, uh… I didn’t like this episode. Shocking, I know. I still have things to say about it, though, so if you want to read them, please read under the cut.

…

::the Longest sigh::

Honestly, did anyone come out of that episode happier than they were before? ‘cause I certainly didn’t…

I’d hear the argument that this is the bleak moment before the triumphant finale, but this Underworld-arc seems pretty much over.

the one (and possibly only) thing i will give zelena credit for.

I mean, it seems fitting that if you go down to the Underworld, bad things will happen, just as it seems fitting that you’d escape with your life and not much more. Not exactly a happy conclusion, but a thematically appropriate one. That the Underworld follows you back home and starts messing things up in the land of the living is just a dose of good, old-fashioned “Nice Job Breaking It Hero”, and I don’t mind that, either. But now, the villain is defeated, the damsel is out of distress (meaning Hook), and the newly dead are buried.

leaving behind an orphaned four-year-old and a literal baby. damn, show, just… damn.

Oh, but Robin isn’t “just” dead (because we have now established that being dead means nothing in this world), no, he’s been obliterated from existence. And for what? What was the narrative justification for killing him off? So that his daughter could have his name? Look, the guy may not have been the most dynamic character or most interesting love interest in the world, but he sure as hell didn’t deserve that.

Poor Regina. Poor Roland. In my ideal world, this ends with Regina adopting the little hobbit, but I don’t really see that happening. (If it does happen, that’s a spoiler I wouldn’t mind hearing, actually. I need happy news after this… mess.)

Observant readers will have noticed that I never cared all that much about Outlaw Queen, but I retroactively feel bad for all the people who were really invested. That was one hell of a brutal shipwreck.

While we’re on the subject, I will have to call shenanigans on the Other Novelty Dildo (first one being that glove Rumple brought back from Camelot)

so many jokes, so little time…

Look, I don’t actually mind the magical MacGuffins that crop up all over the place. But would it kill you to introduce them slightly earlier? Like, just as a rule: if you want to use a MacGuffin to solve a problem in episode 20, you have to introduce it in episode 17 at the latest. Now, if you want to use a MacGuffin to create a problem, maybe you don’t need that much advance warning. Though even that works better at the beginning of an arc than at its end.

And magic bullet aside… I get why Zelena killing Hades had more of an emotional impact. And I get why Regina had to be involved—she’s the only one Zelena would actually do this for. Regina worked all this half-season to forge a bond with her sister, and this is where that pays off.

What I don’t get is why Emma wasn’t involved even a little. No, seriously, go back and check. All she does is lure Hades and Zelena away for about ten seconds, so that Regina and Robin can get into the office to get the then-nameless baby back. And that was in no way integral to Hades’s defeat. So, basically, the person who kicked off the events that led to Hades being a threat in the first place had no part in getting rid of him. Well-bloody-done, show. That’s how you protagonist!

So… yeah. Kind of a disappointing villain-defeat. Although I have to say that the acting in that scene was on point. I mean…

My sincere respect for everyone in front of the camera, here, and especially Lana Parilla and Rebecca Mader. They really acted their hearts out here. I mean… you can see how much she wants to just kill Regina and that nagging voice inside her that says she’s doing the wrong thing, and then you see her change her mind. And then the dialogue tells you what just happened, but you can still see each distinct emotion on her face. ::sigh:: Dear Rebecca Mader, why couldn’t you be a character I liked?

Oh, and of course Rumple has the death-dildo now. Or at least a piece of it. Are we… are we doing this “Rumple as the backup badguy” thing again? Really? Fourth time in a row? The man just wants to wake up his wife so they can make an appointment with Archie for some marriage counselling, he hasn’t got the time to be sinister!

then again, that’s less of an action and more of a lifestyle

Oh, and because I’m frustrated and needed a break… have a gif.

I’m sure there was absolutely no other way to get that thing out of the pulverised Hades-remains. None at all. (I’m also amused that they apparently left the godly dustpile just sitting there for at least a full day. Nobody decided to come over with a dustpan? Really?)

Speaking of Rumple and his current troubles…

Moe French, I will beat you to death with the spikiest cactus I can find, and I will laugh while I do it. I think between nearly killing/personality-wiping his daughter because he didn’t approve of her choice in boyfriend and leaving her in a sleep of eternal torment, because he doesn’t like her husband, this asshole bumped himself all the way up to first place on the “shitty parents” list, which is quite an accomplishment. (To be honest, all the serious contenders for first place are equally shitty, Moe is just the most recent offender, so I’m most angry at him.)

My only consolation is that Moe’s kiss would never have worked in the first place, so while his decision is still deplorable, at least it’s not an actual complication. Shame Emma had to burst in so early, though.

Which brings up another point about Emma and responsibility that I’ll saying a bit more on later, but for this scene, just a quick aside: I don’t think Rumple was exactly right—not all of this mess was Emma’s fault. That he had to go to the Underworld? Sure, that’s 100% on her, but frankly, I’m not willing to absolve Hades and assorted assholes from blame here.

So, no, this mess isn’t Emma’s fault alone. But it is her responsibility. She started this mess, she’d better end it. By the way, guess what she didn’t do? (See above for that.)

::long sigh::

OK, let’s deal with the elephant in the room, namely, the almost-literal Deus Ex Machina.

Who though this was a good idea? Seriously, even if they did write themselves into a corner, this was possibly the worst way to do it. The method was bad, the explanation was bad, and the making out next to the coffin of the man who actually helped kill Hades was the worst.

And Hook didn’t help defeat Hades! Hook didn’t do anything except give Emma the hint about the crystal, and Emma didn’t help! I know I’m harping on this, but the longer I keep pulling on that thread, the more this episode unravels. It’s morbidly fascinating, really.

I discussed the main points on the graveyard-makout-session in the liveblog-post already, but to sum up: there’s a version of this scene that both shows Emma’s and Hook’s relief to be alive and together again without appearing entirely disrespectful to Robin’s memory, but this wasn’t it. This was about as tasteless as it could get without them boinking right there next to the coffin.

(My suggestion: let them go home before they take the train to make-out-town. Bam. Problem solved. They can have a really heartfelt hug on the graveyard; honestly, I feel like a hug would have been more emotionally honest, in any case, but what do I know, right?)

This kind of soured me on Emma as a character, too. I liked her better when she had to face actual consequences and took responsibility for her fuck-ups. And no, whining about how “this is all my fault”, only to get consoled by other characters is not the same as taking responsibility. That’s wallowing in self-pity, and it’s not a very attractive quality. (It’s also a cheap trick to tell the audience “see, the good people don’t think she did anything wrong, and so should you!”)

Oh, and just to close this out…

Yeah, this guy gets to be king of the Underworld now. Grrreat. We all still remember that he was a pretty shitty king while alive, right? That’s not just me? Then again, he’s got all eternity to figure out this gig, so who knows. Maybe he won’t be terrible in a millennium or so. (He’ll still be a douche, though. The douchiness is part of his molecular makeup, there’s really nothing to be done there.)

On a somewhat lighter note: Hook, my guy, we have to talk. You were in a position to, as I like to call it, “pull a Kelsier”, i.e. punch a god in the face. The rules declare that whenever you are in a position to pull a Kelsier, you are basically obligated do so. That fact that you didn’t is… look, I’m not mad. I’m just disappointed.

(In an attempt not to be too obnoxious about it: Kelsier is a character from a completely different fandom who did, in fact, punch at least two gods in the face. They kind of deserved it, too, even if Kelsier really had no moral high ground to stand on.)

And, while I’m on slightly lighter things:

Cruella’s face when she saw Arthur and Hook. I was wrong: someone definitely came out of this episode happier than they were before ::eyebrow waggle::

I have honestly no idea where the last two episodes are going to go, because… there’s really not much setup. Rumple still has a comatose Belle in a box, and she’s probably not getting out of there this season (because that’s not how babies work), so… what exactly is he planning?

I mean, I’ll find out, but I’d appreciate some hints, show!

[bettyyjuggyy]

Things I would like to see in Riverdal3:

(These aren’t demands, just.... observations 🙃)

More Bughead (obviously), who are strong, and work through their ups and downs together. With a little romance and small ‘dates’ here and there. Even just grabbing dinner together. A happier and better Bughead than previous seasons for once. With consistency and realism.

Yes, more Kevin and Betty, for sure. But I would loveee to see more Kevin and Veronica. I think they’re an underrated duo.

Absolutely no love triangle/square story lines. I know this has been said before, but I want to reiterate it. The show has worked hard to demonstrate independent females and strong girl friendships/relationships, as well as establishing the core four as a rock solid group who are beyond loyal for the most part. Introducing a love triangle amongst the best of friends who always (mostly) protect each other would be so unrealistic and ruin the integrity of not just the characters, but the show itself. Let’s focus on more pressing and non overdone story lines please.

Just normal, ‘boring’ highschool stuff. Like sitting in class, actually doing homework, stressing about finishing an essay, school carnivals. Heck, even just walking through a hallway more than once a season. I’m not asking for it to be every episode, but enough to remind us that they are actually still in school.

A little less Bulldog v Serpents. Don’t get me wrong, I actually don’t mind the little bit of tension, but I think most of that hatred has run its course and to continue it the way they have on full speed would be over doing it a tad. Maybe build a few more unexpected friendships? Or even just tolerance?

Maybe better lighting? I do really like the mysterious vibes that the lighting gives, and how it adds to the cinematography, but I wouldn’t mind being able to see some scenes a bit clearer.

This will make me sound like someone who loves to see people in pain (I don’t) but I would like to see Jughead really break down in front of Betty, and for her to be there to comfort him. We’ve seen him be there for her, but I think it would be refreshing to see the male be really vulnerable. Maybe we could get a Betty parallel to “...you are so much stronger than all the white noise...”

I do love the core four, and would love to see more of their friendship, and while I do love Veronica, I would love to see scenes with Archie, Jughead and Betty, the original ‘three amigos’ who throughout the past two seasons have been described on numerous occasions to have been ‘inseparable’ as kids. I think it would be cool to explore how deep their friendship is because of their past, and also their dynamic now that Jug and Betty are in a relationship. (I obviously mean exploring this without any love triangle nonsense/rubbish. Just pure ‘three peas in a pod’ kind of friendship). 

More of Jughead’s ‘just rolled out of bed’ look because... well... I think you know why. 

There have been times where its been has said that the introduction of Gladys will shake things up, even for Bughead. I get she’s going to cause drama, but the only way I can see her messing with Bughead is if she’s whispering manipulative things about Betty into Jughead’s ear. And while one of Jughead’s weaknesses is his want to see the good in and trust his family and the ones he loves (seen in season 1 with believing his father), I very much doubt he would listen to the mother who left him with a pretty much incompetent father, especially when it comes to Betty. So I hope the introduction of Jughead’s mum and Jellybean brings something interesting, and nothing petty like trying to break up Bughead (which has been done to death. Both times they have broken up in the past was been to protect each other because  of threats from someone else). 

I’m sure I’ll be adding to this more throughout the hiatus, but these are my thoughts for now. Feel free to add to them. I’m interested to hear the demands needs ideas that people would like to see in season 3. 

[architectnews]

Clifton Terraces, Cape Town Apartments

Clifton Terraces, Cape Town Apartments, Cape Town Luxury Interior, Contemporary South African Property, Architecture Images

Clifton Terraces in Cape Town

6 Dec 2021

Architects: SAOTA / Interior Design: ARRCC

Location: Clifton, Cape Town, South Africa

Clifton Terraces apartments on Victoria Road, Cape Town, designed by SAOTA, makes a striking but sensitively integrated architectural statement in the area’s distinctive cliffside setting.

Clifton Terraces

The development recedes from the street in a series of stepped, articulated terraces that follow the site’s natural contours, boasting panoramic views of the Atlantic Ocean and local landmarks such as Table Mountain and Clifton’s series of sheltered beaches.

Clifton Terraces accommodates ten apartments, including four levels of side-by-side simplexes, plus a level of duplexes above them and a pair of five-level penthouses set back behind private gardens. Parking is accommodated on three levels: one basement, one at street level and one above. The reception area includes a large-scale site-specific artwork by top-tier artist Marcus Neustetter, which imparts a unique sense of place and adds a layer of creative engagement with the development’s setting.

A central spine of greenery divides the tiered levels vertically, allowing each side of the building to pivot independently of the other as the levels step back, making for a dynamic architectural expression of the building’s form.

The site, which occupies a prime elevated position on Lion’s Head, consolidated three adjacent properties, two facing the street and one landlocked site behind it. Its position was considered sensitive in terms of the grain of its natural and architectural context, the scenic drive along Victoria Road, and, perhaps most of all, consideration for the views and privacy of neighbouring properties. Behind the site is a protected green belt of public space just below the scenic drive along Kloof Road, with views it was imperative to preserve.

SAOTA actively engaged with the city and the building’s neighbours, analysing the impact of the development on the outlook of each of their properties and ensuring that their lateral views across the front of the building would be unaffected. In most instances, SAOTA managed to improve them.

The building’s raked-back terraces and articulated form has its genesis in these considerations, ultimately transforming multiple constraints into the basis of an authentic, highly motivated design solution.

The plinth of the building contributes to the public domain. From a pedestrian perspective at street level, the building’s proportions have been carefully integrated with the existing streetscape, harmonising with the scale of the adjacent buildings. The plinth’s sandstone finish is a nod to the natural colour and texture of the decomposing granite boulder that protrudes from the basement onto the sidewalk, preserving the historical and geological character of the scenic thoroughfare. (The fact that the boulder was decomposing meant significant feats of engineering were required to preserve it.)

On the residential levels, the retreating layers of the stacked facade are deliberately unimposing even as it creates a distinctive and visually pleasing architectural identity for the development, ultimately making a positive architectural contribution to the public domain.

The pivoting faces of the terraces and deep overhangs create protected outdoor living spaces for each apartment with spectacular views. At the same time, frosted glass lateral fin walls have been angled to maximise ocean views and maintain the privacy of residents and neighbours.

The refined detailing of the façade, contrasting crisp white horizontal lines with dark, blade-like pergolas (which in turn complement the dark bands of fenestration), fragments the building’s mass while providing moments of interest within a holistic aesthetic.

The restrained natural palette of materials blends in with the beautiful natural surroundings while planted terraces on each level soften the building’s edges and blend in with the natural environment, as does the treed ‘spine’ running the vertical length of the development. The development retained 25 existing trees on the site and added 101 large trees (plus over 3 000 small plants and shrubs).

Generous landscaped bands of indigenous greenery on either side of the property soften its relation to the public thoroughfares on either side, such as the Biskop Steps, a popular training route for joggers and walkers.

Clifton Terraces won the SAPOA Award for Innovative Excellence in the residential developments category 2018.

Clifton Terraces in Cape Town, South Africa – Building Information

Lead Designers: SAOTA Interior Design: ARRCC Interior Decor: OKHA

Project Location: Clifton, Cape Town, South Africa Architects: SAOTA SAOTA Project Team: Philip Olmesdahl, Mark Bullivant, Edward Peinke, Jo Nel, Christian Liebenberg, Melissa de Freitas, Peter Harel & Lichumile Monakali Developer: Taupo Holdings (Pty) Ltd Project Manager: SIP Project Managers (Pty) Ltd Contractor: Haw & Inglis Structural & Civil Engineer: JG Afrika Electrical & Mechanical Engineer: Sutherland Engineers Quantity Surveyor: De Leeuw Pool Consultant: All Round Pools Landscape Architect: Square One Interior Design: ARRCC Bespoke Furniture: OKHA

Photographer: Adam Letch & Niel Vosloo Copy by Graham Wood

Clifton Terraces, Cape Town Apartments images / information received 061221

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KLOOF 119A Residence Design: SAOTA – Project Team: Greg Truen, Dov Goldring, Jaco Bruwer, Ian Cox and Puja Patel photographers : Adam Letch & Micky Hoyle Lion’s Head House in Cape Town

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[friedpeacecat]

Reflection #06

The content for this blog post is on my though processes and reflection on my fifth assignment ‘3D Printing’. For this assignment we are required to explore the workflow and processes of 3D printing development. This assignment also came with another set of option, which was practice 3D if new to the subject. For the past few assignments, the process of idea to render was straightforward; same goes for 3D printing. That was the reason why I wanted to explore new workflow and other areas of game art development; hair.  

I always marveled at games that have really realistic render of hair on their main character. Real time hair was very difficult and expensive from a game development standpoint and it is taxing for the game engine. Realistic hairs are mainly seen in animation film render and rarely real time setting let alone getting it right. Here are some examples of realistic hairs in animated feature films.  

In order to get this kind of effect in a real time game setting, one has to put much thought and effort into it. Not only one have to make hairs look realistic, one has to balance the performance issue within the game engine. I read an article on Kotaku by Alex Walker on ‘Why Hair in Video Games Is So Hard to Do Well’. He explained that hair is not a static object and it contain millions of hair strands within it. Imagine the number of polygons per hair strand multiply by a million. Polygons aside, hair is a dynamic entity and it is constantly moving. Just the calculation of moving dynamic is taxing enough for the engine to handle real-time. With that aside, some game studios still manage to overcome that huddle and here are some games that gotten my attention in terms of real time realistic hair render. 

 Looking at those images got my hype up and want to dive into real time hair development process. I immediately went and researched on hair workflow development and set myself up developing real time hair for this assignment that will due in 2 weeks. Here are some of the video tutorial and article explaining the workflow and how to achieve real time hair render with Unreal Engine 4.

From those videos and articles, it all comes down to a singular common entity, an absolute understanding of how hair flows and intertwined with each other. Here are some of the interesting hair studies I found.  

Transition zone of the hairs are soft and irregular whereas the Define zone is where the hairs are dense but still able to see-through. The central area of the hair is at its densest.

The hairline is about four fingers away from the eyebrows.  

The back of the wavy hairstyle is in layered and stacked on top of one another. 

 Hair clumps will be irregular in size and thickness.

Negative spaces created by the hair clumps will create volume.

Flyaway hair is important as they break up specularity of the hair volume thus improving its silhouette.  

With all those in mind, I not only understand on how to go about making them but to approach this from a hair stylist point of view to create a better understanding of how to go about integrating them into my workflow. One major setback I faced was to tweak and adjust the curl and flow of the hair to the desirable shape I wanted. Using the deformer tools in Maya and lattices tool helps a lot. While I am working on grooming the hair cards, it made me realize that as an artist, one not only need to make their model and object pleasing to the eyes, but also have an absolute understand and research on the said references of the object/subject. It was an educational and fun research and development journey.  

References:

UNIVERSAL PICTURES (2016), Warcraft [Online image]. Available at: https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/warcraft-sequel-box-office-reviews-duncan-jones-interview [Accessed: 15th November 2021].

Disney/Pixar (2001), Sulley's fur [Online image]. Available at: https://www.insider.com/monsters-inc-cool-and-unique-details-you-never-saw#sulleys-fur-moves-realistically-throughout-the-movie-2 [Accessed: 15th November 2021].

Hanno Hagedorn (2020), Cal Kestis - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order [Online image]. Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Kr62go [Accessed: 15th November 2021].

Arno Schmitz (2016), Horizon: Zero Dawn - Aloy [Online image]. Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/EvmxA [Accessed: 15th November 2021].

Jansen Turk (2021), Cyberpunk 2077 - Alt Cunningham Hair [Online image]. Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/lxXBVV [Accessed: 15th November 2021].

CGMasterAcademy CGMA (2018), CGMA | Creating Hair for Games with Johan Lithvall. [Online Video]. October 4th. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z58OQ9x0E68&t=1105s  [Accessed: 14th October 2021].

Andrew Giovannini (2017), Creating Hair Textures for Unreal Engine 4. [Online Video]. December 22th. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BSlDfF-Iys  [Accessed: 14th October 2021].

Shapiro Medical Group, Fig-16A [Online image]. Available at: https://shapiromedical.com/about/published-articles/principles-and-techniques-used-to-create-a-natural-hairline-in-surgical-hair-restoration/ [Accessed: 15th November 2021].

Scottsdale Institute for Cosmetic Dermatology, The height of the hairline [Online image]. Available at: https://www.scottsdaleinstitute.net/frontal-hairline-restoration/ [Accessed: 15th November 2021].

[luwucas04]

About 4000 (I am so sorry) Words Concerning Films that Helped Define My Existence

Ah, movies. So much in one package. Story, music, visuals, what’s not to love? Today I shall be elaborating on the most noteworthy films in the thrilling ever-changing saga that continues to be my life. Screenplay alongside a screenplay, if you will (please take this statement as modestly as you can).

The first ever thing in my entire life that I remember being an avid and enthusiastic fan about was the original Star Wars saga, written and directed by George Lucas, spanning May 1977 (A New Hope) – May 2005 (Revenge of the Sith).

As mentioned in the podcast and as you may be able to tell from said podcast, I can’t really pinpoint an exact point in my life where I was introduced to it as it was kinda integrated into my upbringing from the get-go—and due to this it’s a very near and dear franchise to me. And oh boy fun fact my first ever childhood crush was Luke Skywalker (I vividly recall my uncle asking why I had his page bookmarked haha). I remember it was something that I would always watch with my dad and or grandpa, and then when I couldn’t find the VCR set that we had for it, I officially commenced my illicit streaming career (not really though, I didn’t get very far. Only crappy 20-minute clips on YouTube). Star Wars for me was the first thing that I actively sought out stuff for or showed genuine interest in pursuing if that makes sense. Like, you’d watch whatever movies or shows were thrown at you and you never thought much of them. Ohoho not Star Wars, though, that one lasted years. My cousin and I would always bring our little action figures to play with whenever we visited—or we’d find long-ish sticks in the backyard and have lightsaber fights, I got the video games, posters, Lego sets of ships (X-wing and Y-wing to be exact), an entire encyclopedia that I still own to this day (I just checked and there’s a date written inside, April 9th 2010 (which is my 7th birthday)), and of course inspiration for my own art and such. I remember I made this magazine that was essentially just me redrawing pages from the guidebook I had. I still have it, too! Sitting at the bottom of a drawer right now. Also, later on for some reason I absolutely loved drawing Ashoka Tano. Over and over again man. I drew her taking up my cousin’s entire driveway in chalk once.

Not only are the Star Wars films a nostalgic and comforting series, but it held onto its marvel throughout the. Wow well over 10 whole years, I’m getting old. Additionally, because at the time we didn’t have as much access to the things we can achieve with modern technology, I was basically all on my own with it. I fueled my own fascination. And shockingly, not a lot of people in my elementary school (up until maybe grade 6-7) showed much interest in it either. So it was pretty much just me myself and I, and occasionally my cousin whenever he visited, and I think that made it all the more special to me. Also, at the time I think it was geared way more toward kids. There weren’t series like The Mandalorian or active internet communities that were obsessed with the series as far as I was aware, so there wasn’t the same quantity of content nor overall enthusiasm around it. Nonetheless, it was and still is a very personal series due to how engrained it is into basically every aspect of my childhood. I’ll try not to be too repetitive with what I said in the podcast, but ultimately the clear nature of the franchise (attractive character designs, colours, setting in general (it’s an action-packed space adventure what’s not to love)) is what really made me latch onto it, and it kickstarted my interest in the very essence of media and understanding the film medium and what it has to offer. I remember asking how they got Jar Jar to exist on screen and he told me they made him out of CGI, and I interpreted that as they somehow made a real-life computer model out of him and that they were actually interacting with like a physical, solid hologram. Anyway, revisiting the franchise and diving into more of its intricacies now (like the production diaries) is like an absolute goldmine. There are so many aspects of it that 100% contributed to and nurtured my goals, passions, and ultimately who I am as a person. Here is some of my very recent art for good measure:

Up next up we got Lord of the Rings (dir. Peter Jackson, December 2001 – December 2003) or I guess a better way to put it would be those plus The Hobbit (December 2012 – December 2014) trilogy. I think it was earlier than the Marvel phase (which follows this section) because like Star Wars I can’t really remember my first viewing of it, but I definitely watched it all. It might’ve been around grade 3 so 2011-ish? Quick anecdote, one time I had a sleepover I was really excited for, and as we all know when you’re excited for something as a kid and it’s later on in the day, time doesn’t actually pass at all, and so my genius ass decided to flip on The Fellowship of the Ring and boom it was 5 pm and time to leave. Also my grandparents from my mom’s side of the family (they’re German so we call them oma and opa) were visiting once and my opa (grandpa equivalent) wanted to watch something so I was like “omg Lord of the Rings is perfect there are so many characters he can feel empowered by (Gandalf and Saruman because they’re old)”. Phenomenal logic—now thinking back it was probably much too violent for his tastes but yknow.

I love Lord of the Rings so much because it’s the true embodiment of an ideal fantasy story; there’s such pure character dynamics and personalities and Tolkien created such an incredibly solid world in which these stories take place. Man knew his stuff, and in turn provided a charming and utterly wonderful scape for young minds to roam free within. I was going to talk about this if I did my other culminating idea regarding masculinity within the media, but I have the perfect opportunity to do so here: something so great about said world is how sincere and genuine a lot of the male characters are (yknow minus people like Denethor and Alfred). Namely the fellowship, they all openly care for and are affectionate towards one another, something we rarely see between men both in modern media and in real life. Aragorn is a perfect example of someone owning and being comfortable in his masculinity. He is kind to and uplifts others, and communicates openly with them. He isn’t afraid of being intimate and vulnerable towards them, either. We see this in Boromir’s death scene. Aragorn doesn’t patronize him for trying to take the Ring, he consoles Boromir in his last moments and they treat each other with the utmost tenderness and respect—not callously or stiffly. Right after decapitating an orc, Aragorn is still able to run to his side, hold him, and kiss him on the forehead following his passing. Aragorn also isn’t afraid to share fame or glory, in fact he never seeks it out in the first place despite his lineage. It was at the battle of Helm’s Deep that he embraced that destine to be king, not out of lust for power, but because these people needed guidance and leadership and he could provide it for them. He elevates others in an incredibly positive and empowering way, especially Frodo and Éowyn, and is content with the fact that the story is not about him. Even at his own coronation, he directs every single person’s attention to the literal earth-saving feat that the hobbits have achieved in light of his own massive accomplishment. He is such a great role model to have been able to look up and aspire to be like, and I wish there were more characters and people like him.

I was a fan of those original films at an earlier point in my life, but the thing that brought that interest back a little stronger was undoubtedly the release of the Hobbit prequels. Like the Star Wars prequels, everyone can say what they want but they are very gorgeous to me. I skipped out on seeing Frozen with my class to go see The Desolation of Smaug with my dad and that was SUCH a good decision. Although, I’m rewatching them all now and Battle of the Five Armies kinda sucks at the beginning. They kill Smaug in like the first five minutes and like it wasn’t bad but it was very anticlimactic. I also don’t like how they shoved Legolas in there, his personality is really jaded and he’s kind of a big prick in those films. But it’s fine I love Martin Freeman and Richard Armitage and the rest of the dwarves the most. They were obviously the most significant and I like them a lot, and there are three movies as opposed to the one book so there’s even more content!

WHEW sorry about that anyway The Hobbit really was the revival/rekindling of that past love for Tolkien’s world. I also had a good close friend who was also along for the ride as well—being able to be into these things alongside someone is always fun and I’m grateful she was there and shared my same energy. She had the Lego game for that one, very similar free-roam concept as my Marvel one (coming up next), so we had lots of fun with that too. To reiterate, I am rewatching these movies again now as an older person with like an actual conscience, and my takeaway from them is vastly different on more of like… a philosophical level, I suppose. I appreciate the process of things more and the backstory behind Tolkien’s lore and the timeless characters and deeper meanings that he’s conceived. But that wouldn’t be very chronological of me to go into it here so moving on.

Proceeding next, around grade four at the most (so just after it came out), I watched The Avengers (dir. Joss Whedon, 2012). Not only did this single-handedly make my art convictions explode (in a good way), it also instigated my love for soundtracks (and also the entire Marvel universe but we’ll obviously be covering that very soon).

The Avengers was like an epiphany for me. Literally ground-breaking and earth-shattering. Changed my entire 10-year-old life. It was all that I ever wanted and more, and since it was around 2012-13 that I became aware of its existence, the internet community was blossoming with possibilities and content. That same friend liked it as well! My Avengers/Marvel phase definitely rivals my Star Wars phase; I think I watched The Avengers first, and then my dad was like “yeah ok you need to watch everything else now” and so henceforth Captain America and Iron Man and Thor. Those were very good times, and I actually remember experiencing all of them for the first time ever. The Christmas of 2013 was absolutely wild. I only got Marvel related gifts which was incredible at the time. My first ever ‘art of’ book was for the Avengers film, too! I also got an arc reactor shirt that actually lit up and I thought that was the absolute coolest thing ever, and then I remember I cut my tongue on this candy I was eating and my mouth bled profusely for a while. However the most iconic gift of all was my copy of Lego Marvel Superheroes for the PS3. I finished it in about 2 days, and it’s the only Lego game that I’ve gotten 100% completed progress on. I love that game dearly and still play it sometimes. The thing that I love specifically about it was the ability to free-roam the entirety of New York City as any character you wanted, me and that friend would do that exclusively for hours on end and make up our own stories with all the characters. Here is Galactus perusing the streets

Speaking of characters, this was the first thing that really got me making up and drawing a shit ton (apologies for lack of a better phrase) of original characters. I’d make superhero characters for me and my friend (ok I guess I should give her a name huh), Mackenzie, and even for random people in my class cause we needed to fill in some blanks in the stories we’d make. I’d create comics, write little stories, make variation after variation of these people we came up with, and of course like normal children me and Mackenzie would go to the park near my old house and pretend we were said characters. Man it was so fun. Then we’d do all those personality quizzes to find out which member you were most like. Mackenzie and I would do these quizzes on none other than our state-of-the-art BlackBerry playbooks. For me it was usually either Iron Man or Thor, and Mackenzie had this weird curse where she’d only ever get Loki as a result for anything at all which was very hilarious to me. Circling back to soundtracks, The Avengers OST was one of my first full album purchases. The main theme was my favourite track out of all of them for obvious reasons, but I still paid respects to all of them and listened to it often. Since I bought it with my dad’s Apple ID, it’d show up on the communal iPad that we used for music in the kitchen and I have full recollection of my grandpa playing it on blast in the morning to wake us up one time. I was aggravated at first but then when I realized what it was I was like ah yes of course. After the Avengers soundtrack, I got the Wolverine (2013) OST and that was fun but I didn’t like all the tracks in the same way, but THEN I got the Days of Future Past soundtrack. THAT is a good soundtrack AND a phenomenal film.

Anyway, after that I was a Marvel connoisseur for a little while. Like Star Wars I got an entire character encyclopedia, a bunch of comics, posters, you name it. My parents and sister also enjoyed dabbling in stuff too; we’d watch the animated series together on Netflix and eventually ended up seeing all the new movies together when they came out in theatres (except not my mom though cause she gets motion sickness from action films). Marvel was a staple in the adolescence stage of my life before I was introduced to anime (then it was all downhill from there (I am kidding anime was a part of my life that I look back at with great fondness)). It was reason for so much of what I explored with my art and my own imagination, and was one of my first experiences in what it was like to be a part of a fandom-esque community. There were also memes ripe for the picking when it came to Marvel; as one can assume I had no access to memes in kindergarten to grade 1 in the late 2000s. It was such a lovely and warm point in my life, something that established what kind of passion I really poured into something when I really liked it. And akin to Star Wars, there’s just so much to like about it. There’s so much to offer, an array of colourful characters and storylines—and of course, creative liberty when it came to superpowers and that whole narrative. The sky was literally the limit. Here is some of my ancient 2014 portraiture that I dug up for the sake of this assignment

Ok heads up we are now veering AWAY from childhood content and touching on a film that played a more personal part, namely during a very pivotal point, in my life. I picked up The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky, 1999) at a bookstore and read it at the speed of light; I was crying in my room on my bed by the time I finished it. I love how we see Charlie’s character change over the course of the novel, not only through what he describes or how he perceives things but his style of writing in general. Anyway, I wanted to read the novel first before I watched the movie (dir. Stephen Chbosky 2012), and I was pleasantly surprised by how accurate the movie is to the book (well duh the author directed it). I read/watched this right before I started high school, so I was kind of (but not really considering the built-up childhood trauma he has yikes) in the same position as the protagonist, Charlie, as he was starting out (minus a lot of the major aspects of his character and what he went/goes through (like drugs)). A lot of the things that he learns were really important takeaways for me before heading into that new chapter of life like he did.

Contrary to the title of the (I know it started out as a novel but I’m just gonna say film) film, you need to put yourself out there and advocate for yourself in life. It’s great to be a trustworthy individual whom everyone is vaguely aware of and likes, but you need to approach things with reason and make yourself known somehow. At the time, both before and during grade 9, and even still sometimes in the present (though I do it more deliberately now), I found myself just standing on the sidelines as life happened before me and I let it sweep me away without having any feet planted on the ground. It was like I wasn’t in control of it, and in turn I might’ve struggled in some areas more than I should have. I didn’t own anything, like I wasn’t totally present. Similar to Charlie, I was a person who’d always be there for others, someone people could talk to and confide in, and ultimately someone people truly enjoyed having around—which is pretty great. But I didn’t fully know my position or what I ultimately wanted in any of those situations. Don’t get me wrong, I am incredibly grateful for my entire freshman experience and I absolutely wouldn’t have wanted it any other way considering all personal circumstances, but with that foreknowledge of the importance of making a name for yourself, especially in high school, I think I was able to branch out with ease a bit more than I would have without it. I at least was aware of what was going on in that sense. That movie is really special to me because it ended up being a pseudo-mirror of my own experiences. Charlie’s English teacher, Bill, embraced his writing abilities and urged him to participate more, share his own thoughts, and express more of his personality by giving him books for extra reading. My first ever semester of Laurier did the exact same for me as Bill did for Charlie. It fostered my interests and intellectual abilities, and you guys constantly urged me and everyone else to go above and beyond what we were used to because you knew we could do it (even though I feel like I could’ve done a lot better on some things as my marks in grade 9 are a bit lower than I’d like them to be, but hey it was a time of adjustment and I did my best and that’s what matters). As a direct result of Laurier, I’m really lucky to have been surrounded by an amazing group of passionate students, a handful of which became my closest friends throughout high school, and that my very first teachers of the day were people who uplifted me and genuinely cared not only about furthering my academic work, but about my growth as a person.

Whew let’s wade out of the sap and get into some more energetic stuff!!! To tie off this recollection of my life through film the most recent and notable movie that impacted my life was, the one and only, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (dir. Peter Ramsey, Bob Persichetti, Rodney Rothman, 2018). Similar to The Desolation of Smaug and Frozen, I went with my dad to the cinema but parted ways with him to watch this movie by my lonesome (he went to the Aquaman theatre instead smh). Again, phenomenal choice. I talked about this in my grade 11 blog, but Spider-Verse is an absolute masterpiece in every way shape and form.

At the point I watched it, I knew what I wanted to generally do with my life (be part of the art industry) and the visuals of this movie alone were enough to make me want to elope with it and never see or talk to anyone ever again. It is such a gorgeous film. The way they strayed from the yucky 3D conventions norm—and there is literally no way they could’ve done the majority of what they did in that movie effectively if they did it live action. Or, they could definitely try and make an attempt, but it’d look like garbage. For example, a lot of the action scenes in general and also when they become abstracted like with the particle collider. 40-60 fps would not do that sense of movement justice at all. Too smooth. Not enough grit and personality.

Anyway, they also pioneered new animation techniques in mixing 2D and 3D, and explored a newer superhero trope where the main character’s own mundane life struggles are equally as important as him trying to sort things out with these new powers. It’s more of a battle between what Miles wants with his own personal life—new school, the friends he won’t be able to see because of said new school, owning his own abilities and adjusting to change. Then on top of that he’s met with all these alternate-dimension people that he has to work and be on par with. Aside from the art, I thought the overall message was every special: Miles learns through trial and tribulations, unsureness—and most importantly, failure. Confidence and optimism, in regard to what he thinks he can and can’t do, is vital. Amidst everything he is faced with, he starts out as just another kid who wants to be just another kid. But we all have something special inside us that we must choose to embrace if we want to truly flourish. We see him come to terms with the fact that he really is capable of greatness if he sets his mind to it—and that’s the main message: anyone can wear the mask. And can we talk about that soundtrack??? Not only the instrumentals, but the actual songs were great too! “Sunflower” and “What’s Up Danger”? Lovely and fitting. And back to the OST, the Prowler’s theme??? Shivers.

There is such a unique and beautiful vibe to this movie, and it’s inspired me in more ways than one. Aside from that nice motivational stuff, it also has recently played a tremendous part in developing my own art. All of the artists who worked on the film are people I immediately tried to find on social media so I could see more of their work. I purchased the art book, and even bought a 2D sequence illustration course provided by one of the art directors, Patrick O’Keefe. That course also came with the (digital) brushes he uses, and I’ve used them in pretty much every single one of my pieces since downloading them. This movie really showed me the possibilities of what could be achieved in the art industry, and it made me want to be a part of it so much more than I was before. I want to be involved in revolutionary visual achievements, and I want to develop characters and stories and worlds that are as interesting and loveable as the ones in Spider-Verse. (my stuff featured below)

So there you have it folks, 5 (five) of the most significant movies in my life relayed in a whopping just over 4000 words. I hope this has been enlightening for all you readers out there, perhaps you now have a better understanding of how I came to be personality/interest-wise, and I hope you can catch a glimpse of that same importance these pieces of media have in regard to me and my values.

[xseedgames]

LoH: Trails of Cold Steel PC Guest Blog #2 from Peter “Durante” Thoman - Graphical Enhancements & Options

Welcome to the second part of this 3-part series on the PC port of Trails of Cold Steel. The first part dealt with lifting the performance of the game to a level that I consider acceptable -- great even. Of course, you might now be wondering what to do with all that performance headroom if you’re planning to play on something faster than a GPD Win. After all, there isn’t really any need to run a turn-based JRPG at 300 FPS or more.

In this article I’ll introduce the various graphical settings I’ve added to the game, going into a bit more detail on some of them. I’ve been looking forward to this one in particular, so I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.

The Launcher

Let’s start with a look at the game’s launcher:

There are a few things I’d like to remark on:

Every single option has a description text, and often it also shows visual comparisons of the settings (on the right)

The entire launcher you see here can be navigated just using a gamepad (actually, I made a tool for this that allows natural 2D-navigation and changing options in arbitrary C# WinForms dialogs using Xinput, and XSEED has graciously agreed to allow me to open source it, so look for that on my blog when things are less hectic)

Can you spot the typo on this screenshot? It’s fixed by now.

The rest of this article will look at the options contained in the “Display”, “Image Quality”, “Shading” and “Graphics” sections of the launcher in order.

Display

Here, you have the basic choice between windowed or fullscreen rendering with or without v-sync. In terms of framerate, there are 3 settings: a 30 FPS limit, a 60 FPS limit, and unlimited FPS. While the game was 30 FPS on consoles, in the PC version both 30 and 60 are fully supported. Unlimited variable FPS also work very well in all my testing, but are not fully QA’d throughout the game and offered on a “your own risk” basis.

Finally, I’ve also added an option for adjusting the Field of View (FoV). While not as important as in first-person games, playing close to a large monitor often makes a larger Field of View desirable. Here you see a comparison between the default FoV (left) and a very high setting (I wouldn’t personally choose one this high, it’s just for illustration):

Image Quality

This section deals with resolution, anti-aliasing (AA) and texture filtering. Resolution works as you would expect. In terms of anti-aliasing, MSAA 2x, 4x and 8x are supported, and transparency supersampling (TrSSAA) is there as a high-end option to improve the quality of alpha-tested surfaces. It was strange to discover that TrSSAA is actually significantly more difficult to implement in DX11 than it is in Direct3D 9 or OpenGL, but at least that explains why so few games offer it. Here is a comparison to show what each option does -- of course, the difference is much more pronounced in motion:

Before we move on to shading, there’s one thing I need to get off my chest. You know what really annoys me? When games offer some AA option, but do not apply that AA solution consistently to everything in the game (like e.g. character models in menus.) I had to extend the underlying engine to do it, but rest assured that when you select an AA option in Trails of Cold Steel on PC, everything will get that level of AA:

The main game rendering will be AA’d of course.

The rendered character dialogue portraits will also get the AA.

The character models shown on the equip screen? AA’d.

Character busts during special events? AA’d.

Yes, even the minimap rendering gets MSAA. And TrSSA. Because why not! 

Oh, and there’s an anisotropic filtering option. It’s just a checkbox, because honestly, there’s no reason to bother with less than 16xAF for this game. Even the GPD Win can do it!

Shading

Now this is where things get even more interesting. There are four options related to the quality of dynamic shadows:

Shadow Resolution, which, as you’d expect, adjusts the resolution of the shadow maps all the way from “low” to “absurd”.

Shadow Casters, changing which objects cast shadows. Shadows are often enabled only selectively for performance reasons, with artists manually selecting which objects and characters are sufficiently “important” to cast shadows. This setting overrides that selection and makes every object in the scene cast a shadow.

Shadow Distance, which can increase the distance shadows are cast at. Ever annoyed by shadows appearing and disappearing a few meters in front of you? I know I am. Well, not on my watch.

Finally, Shadow Filtering enables softer and more aesthetically pleasing shadow transitions.

Even with these improved real-time shadows, the game’s environments still looked a bit flat. Since the environments, unlike the characters’ cel shading, are rendered and shaded in a more realistic style, I thought that a more realistic modern technique, namely ambient occlusion, might look good. With some engine improvements I was able to integrate HBAO+, one of the highest-quality and best-performing AO solutions available:

As you can see, it lends everything a lot more depth and plasticity, and also makes objects in the shadows appear more grounded. 

Graphics

Last, but certainly not least, the “Graphics” options seem comparatively unexciting with just two checkboxes: and really, the High Quality Depth of Field setting just does what it says on the tin and while it’s a nice improvement, it’s nothing to write home about.

On the other hand, the Unlimited Draw Distance option is, and excuse me if I say so myself, a really big deal. In fact, doing something about the draw distance was one of the very first requests that came up when the first article was posted. What I’ve done about it is completely eliminate any form of pop-in, by making all objects and characters draw at any range. On some maps this is quite a significant extra CPU load, especially combined with full shadow casters, but nothing a modern Desktop PC can’t easily deal with. 

Since pop-in is hard to demonstrate in images, I’ve made a video that really shows off the considerable effect of this option. 

Other Improvements and Conclusion

In addition to these options, there are a few graphical improvements over the console version that are “always on” and don’t have a launcher option. For example, the glow effects are rendered at 4 times the fidelity, and uncompressed textures are used instead of the compressed assets designed for consoles wherever they were available.

I hope you’ll enjoy these graphical improvements as much as I enjoyed creating them and writing about them. In the final article, we’ll have a look at some non-graphical features, and one particular, somewhat programming-intensive graphical option that will make a few people really happy and which I never expected XSEED to go for. Till then!

[astro-break]

Quick first thoughts on the first ep of the Hypmic Anime. Spoilers beware (and im writing this as I watch so :p)

Otome’s speech is.... questionable from a persuasive point of view. Manga did a great job of introducing her (which you can read here) but they really cut out the more terrifying parts of her speech and how she uses force to show people that she's not to be messed with

Its cool seeing everyone in their respective environments though. thats cool. Though they could have added Sasara and Kuuko (shhh i know why they didn’t let me dream)

I love how poppy the typography is. Its amazing how the visuals just leap out at you. The OP does a great job of this. The first few seconds before the title really gives me Persona 4 OG OP vibes with the influx of information given. The rest is a clear concise and streamlined way that still gives character. Animation is sparse but still carries across a general idea of each character and shows off each character object. Rendering is really nice and pays a bit of homage to the posing artwork thats done for the MVs. They also do their division hand signals and thats cute

Love how the OP has blatant HifuDoppo and DRB matchup foreshadowing

so far I really like what theyre going for. BB is about brotherly familial bonds and they show the goods and the bads. Jiro and Saburo bickering right out the gate really cements the fact that they get along like cats and dogs but you can still see that they love each other, working together when the situation calls for it

Now the 3d models. Theyre... not great but usable if you don’t look too hard. They serve their purpose and don’t actively detract from the viewing experience.

Visual typography in the rap itself are fun and poppy but they dont.... speak to me? like theyre there yes and I appreciate them but the only ones that got me excited were from Ichiro’s rap

I take my words back the group portion was kickass and I apologize

I love how they interpret the Hypnosis Speakers though. Esp. Saburo’s organs. That was super creative and I love it! If there was one thing that I felt was missing from the franchise was a deeper exploration of the speakers but the anime puts a new and fresh spin on it! Love it, especially with their attack patterns!

If the production team ever feels inclined to, Id love to see those info sheets on Otome’s desk released. There seems to be very interesting info and stats written out about each member (like capabilities, personal status etc.) They all seem unique too so I really really really hope they release images of those sheets

OOOOOOOOKAY MTC. I have such a big biased for them so Im very torn to see what unfolds

Rio striking out on his own is interesting. Out of everyone in MTC hes the biggest team player yet here he trusts his teammates to go ahead. This either displays Rio’s willingness to trust his teammates or it becomes very OOC if the anime wants to set him up as a lone wolf like character

I love how they specify its a drug deal. It means that Jyuto surely will show up and it also shows that Samatoki knows Jyuto’s motives and willingly gives black market info that he knows aligns with Jyuto’s goal. Thats A+ detail writing there and a great establishing characteristic for both of them

OOohhhhhhhhhhhhh man Asunama-san’s voice acting is god tier his work as Samatoki is phenomenal. He pulls of Samatoki’s threatening voice so well with those almost calm words before his voice becomes loud and confrontational. Those rolling syllables in contrast to Komada-san’s almost lyrical and airy speech and Kamio-san’s strict and enunciated words is such a delight to hear. It just speaks to how amazing and great these Seiyuu’s are in order to pull of such amazing work

Im so biased but MTC has such a better rap than BB im so sorry. Just by watching Samatoki’s part, the imagery is amazing. Even the arrival of his Hypnosis Speaker was awesome and sent a shiver down my spine. using the lyrics to form blades and blood was such a great thing to do. Theres so much more variety that just him standing there and shots of his hypnosis speaker. The old fashioned vignette shots, the four panel spread, the nods to old Kurosawa era films are great and I love these small details. Even the typography looks better.

Again, the interpretations with the speakers is fresh and new. Its great and I love the different imagery and attack patterns. Each one is so unique but carries across each different style of rap.

The 3d modles aren’t any better tho lol

(Hi this is Astro who is reading over their assessment again and making a note. Yeah I’m a bit harsh on BB’s rap. I’m not going to change it since I still stand by it and this post is supposed to be a documentation of my first impressions. I think one of the reasons why I’m so harsh on BB is because of their dynamic as a trio of brothers. They Have to have a more uniform approach than the other divisions. Which in of itself isn’t a terrible thing, it just doesn’t catch my eye as much as MTC did. Thats all! I definitely don’t hate BB, they’re maybe my 3rd favorite division out of the current lineup [not including TDD era teams like Kujaku Posse, MCD, and Naughty Busters] its just that their rap was pretty meh)

Samatoki crouching like a real gangstar and the cigarette kiss killed me

sadjkhfjkasdghsadjkcsdjhsdfsjhf im dying i love these trio of dumbasses so uch oh y fod someone save me aaaaaaaa (Astro note here! yeah i died when the jyuto and samatoki’s stomach growled im weak please. Samatoki’s face is just so precious and funny I might set it as a profile pic somewhere)

But also my initial assessment of Rio possibly being characterized as a lone wolf is very much jossed and im very thankful for that. It seems that Rio was simply trusting his teammates to carry out their part of the plan while he carried out his own. I like that, it really shows how much of a team these three are and that they genuinely trust each other. He’s also comfortable enough around them to invite them to dinners after work casually and not just for special occasions.

I really love MTC guys

Oooh! we get Ramuda on his design process which is really cute. the inside of his studio is super cute and retro and i love it. the poppy old music you would hear in a cafe or 90′s resturaunt is also really cute (astro note: yeah i know that in ARB you see the interior of Ramuda’s office but its kinda different seeing it animated)

the translation i have has gentaro speaking in early modern english (Shakespearian english for those who aren’t english nerds like me) but from what I can hear, he doesn’t speak in a particularly old fashioned way? Its more formal than old? and hes speaking without any of his character persona lying thing that he likes to do (as he refers to himself as “Shousei” throughout the segment where hes in Ramuda’s office which is kind of his default pronoun of choice). so its kinda odd for the translation to go in that direction but im not complaining

Gendice banter is gold but it feels... flat? a little? it doesn’t have the same impact as in the drama cds or in the manga? i feel? Also Ramuda using gratuitous english is??? idk how to feel about that

kjshf thats against the rules Ramuda omgggg,,,,,,,, (astro note again: while watching i was under the assumption that using your hypmic for monetary gain such a as buskering [which is what FP is doing] is against the rules. May not be the case but whatever)

FP’s rap might be my favorite in terms of tune and lyrics though. It’s a nice laid back bop and really gives of chill vibes. the integration of 3d and 2d is really nice and i love how they play off each other in the rap. The wordplay is so fun with little nods here and there and the beat is poppy too so it really energizes me.

Ramuda’s rap concerns me slightly since he makes very subtle and small nods towards his past (being created in a laboratory, warfare, and his overall very unpleasant life experiences) but spins it into something cutesy. It could be a coping mechanism, it could be me overthinking it. But it does make me worry a bit. Gentaro and Dice’s rap really play off each other with Gentaro sticking to stories and Dice taking up the baton by carrying on that same imagery but putting his own spin on it.

the self awareness of how scattered they are as a team is interesting though. It doesn’t seem like something you’d speak about in a rap? but i guess since its not really a do or die situation they can afford to be looser on things like this.

Right off the bat, i don’t like how they handled Hifumi and Doppo in relation to Hifumi’s fear of women. Slug made a post once talking about this and I echo many of his sentiments. Hypmic has never been very tactful about tackling this particular issue and while I didn’t have high hopes that the anime would be any better it hurts to see Doppo take away the one thing that allows Hifumi to function within society.

Doppo’s breakdown mirrors a lot of my own mental state when I spiral though its shown a lot quicker than what happens to me oof. that hits close to home. though Jakurai’s advice is. Questionable. Its not the best advice to give to someone but we have no idea what kind of doctor Jakurai is so ill let it slide

Jakurai’s pose looks like hes going to do a mahou shoujou transformation lmao

I don’t have many thoughts about the rap though again. How they visualize the rap is interesting. the different imagery is quite interesting for each of them and the typography is nice a distinct but im still on the fence about the visuals here

The sound is in the same boat. The sound effects either drown out the rap or are too quet but some parts are nice at least. When they talk about Tokyo’s beating heart, the heartbeat sound is a but distracting especially since its only played once. But the imagery is at least nice

I wonder if for the eds they’re going to take a similar approach to what Enstars did and have a four different endings, one for each division. I love the blend of styles here and it really accentuates that although they’re different they mesh well together.

Ramuda’s silhouette though is hilarious. Love it.

:p and thats it. Uh not bad for a first episode. Established all 12 characters really nicely and their dynamics. I had some problems with it but then again nothing is perfect. I look forward to what they show us next week

[bloodline-rpg]

Congratulations, Steph! We have accepted your application for your OC, Haven Caldwell (FC  Madelaine Petsch) Please create a new blog (not a sideblog) for your character and send us the link via ask box as soon as you can. Along with your link, please let us know what lyric you’d like for us to use for Monty in his bio. Welcome to Bloodline!

Name/Alias: Steph Age: Twenty - Five Preferred pronouns: She / Her Timezone: EST Level of activity (don’t give your activity a number value, please describe how active you will be as best as possible): I’m a college student (haha… please give me my degree) but I’m usually on every night or every other night. It might become slightly less than that when exams take place, but I’d always communicate that beforehand.

DETAILS.

Character’s Name: Haven Caldwell Desired FC: Madelaine Petsch Character’s Age: Twenty - Four Character’s Species: Immortal Witch Character’s Sexuality: Bisexual

BIOGRAPHY.

Power — what everyone wants and so few get. Those who are lucky are born with it, silver spoons dangling out of the corners of their mouths, blissfully unaware of the struggles plaguing the less fortunate. Those who are not quite as lucky choose to take it, tear it from the grasp of those who hardly deserve it, and claim what’s rightfully theirs. You see, power is the empty chamber in a game of Russian roulette, and only a few ever dare to have the balls to pull the trigger. You have to play the game to be rewarded. After all, Haven Caldwell was always destined for more than what the world gave her.

In hindsight, it might be hard for one to believe Haven had been a happy child, the apple of her parents’ eye. They doted on her as any parents would, spoiled her the way only an only child could be spoiled. The streets of New York were her own personal playground, a concrete jungle gym just for her. As the child of an original witch, magic had never been a secret, whispered about in the dark as though it was something to be feared. Rather, it had been embraced, uplifted. Haven would sit at the kitchen table and watch with glee as fire sparked from her mother’s fingertips, flames licking at the skin. She would clap her little hands together and exclaim that the fire was the same color as her hair; her mother would coo at the excitement, press a kiss to her daughter’s forehead, flames dissipating as quickly as they came. She always wanted to be just like her mother, imagining what it would feel like to have fire at her fingers, hungry for a power she just knew she had to possess. And her mother, her dear, darling mother… well, every mother wants a mini-me.

Of course, you don’t always get what you want. Holistic Witch. The result of splitting a bloodline one too many times; the result of a family not knowing how to take care of their own. The revelation had come when her mother could no longer hide it, when she stopped being able to explain it away with coos of “you’re just a late bloomer sweetheart,” when it became apparent to Haven herself that she and her mother were not one and the same. According to the story, her grandfather had fallen for a human, marrying for love and not for power ⁠— her mother, drunk on love and foolish… so very foolish, had made the same mistake. Her mother had been one of the lucky ones, the first result of the first split, still an Original. Still powerful, still lauded, still destined for greatness. Haven had not. Just as quickly as she yearned for the fire at her fingertips, she learned to resent the flames sparking from her mother’s. Holistic Witch. Destined to always be seen as less than, inferior. Her mother swore it didn’t change anything, that she could still be powerful, still be great, but Haven was far from stupid. This changed everything.

At sixteen, Haven’s relationship with her mother deteriorated. She grew far too resentful of the woman who had lied to her, kept her in the dark regarding the truth. She knew it killed her mother to watch her only daughter grow cold when they’d once been inseparable, but her mother kept her distance, knowing it was the least that she could do. Looking back on it, maybe Haven had felt a little guilty for pushing her mother away. But you know what they say about trust: it’s a mirror, and you can fix it when it’s broke, but you’ll always see a crack in the reflection. At seventeen, her mother bonded with a wolf familiar ⁠— he’d been nice, Haven supposed, though she didn’t have much of an opinion one way or another at first. He’d integrated into their world seamlessly, a long lost member of the family, a way to bridge the gap. It was a slow start, but his arrival had triggered something in Haven: she wasn’t quite ready to forgive her mother for the years of being left in the dark, but she was getting there. He’d offered them protection, security.

At eighteen, Haven discovered that the wolf was offering up dick in exchange for that protection. She was never meant to know; she wasn’t supposed to be home early that afternoon. She was supposed to be out with her friends, giggling her way down 5th Avenue, arms linked with a pretty girl who wore an even prettier smile. But she’d left her wallet at home, perched on the kitchen counter. It was only a quick detour to go back and grab it after school. She’d found them in the living room, her mother not having the decency to use her marriage bed, caught up in each other. One screaming match later and several pleas from her mother for her not to go, Haven was out the door, a fraction of her belongings in hand. Running away wasn’t the smartest or the most logical choice, but she couldn’t pretend everything was okay, that her mother hadn’t ruined everything over and over and over again.

She made the most of wandering on her own for a few years, relying on her mother’s naivety ⁠— the woman never cut her off, always hoping that Haven would see the error of her own ways and come crawling back. She made friends in both high and low places, listened to the whisperings of the magical world, biding her time and honing her craft. It had been a shock when the rumor first swirled, the murmurings of a witch who had achieved immortality pressed to the shell of her ear; the man who told her of the rumors knew of her desires and presented her with the golden ticket, sending her on her merry way.

Haven wanted power.

Thierry wanted a coven.

Maybe that was the beginning, and the end, of everything.

PERSONALITY.

Ruthless. Calculating. Cold. Detached. Angry. They always used to say that Haven was only out for Haven, willing to send anyone and everyone down the river just to get herself ahead⁠—gone is the happy little girl clapping gleefully in her mother’s kitchen. She has a flair for the dramatics, thrives on being the center of attention. More than anything, though, she despises the notion of being weak. She refuses to be seen as less than and demands the respect she knows she deserves. Her behavior teeters on the edge of sadistic, though not without reason. Wolves don’t deserve respect, so why should she treat them with such? Though perhaps more than a little fucked up, she takes pleasure in toying with the wolves for her own amusement, just to keep herself entertained. It’s a stretch, however, to say she lacks humanity⁠—she isn’t a monster by her own definition, though if that’s how others perceive her, that’s on them. However, those she holds a soft spot for are few and far between. You know what they say: there’s something dangerous about the boredom of girls with nothing left to lose and everything to gain.

POLITICS.

It’s safe to say that Haven’s loyalty lies with herself above all else. She’ll do whatever necessary to protect herself first, and worry about her secondary loyalties after. (Really, the only other loyalty she’d have is to Thierry and the Immortal Witches. She’s vicious regarding the wolves given her history, and her stance on Holistic witches isn’t much better. She regards herself as above Original Witches through her newfound identity as an Immortal Witch, thinking of herself as more powerful, but there’s still a unique and deep-seeded resentment towards them that stems from envy.) It’d be interesting to explore interpersonal relationships because she isn’t really a fan of anyone, save for the respect she holds for Thierry and the other Immortal Witches. Again, she teeters on the edge of sadistic in regards to the wolves, toying with them for her own amusement. That’s certainly a dynamic I want to explore and dig a little deeper into.

Though she considers herself to be a manipulator in her own right, I think it’d be interesting to explore how Haven can be manipulated through her quest to get ahead. Promise her more power than what she already has and she’ll take the bait, do someone’s bidding—so long as she feels she has control over the situation and is making the choice for herself. Additionally, she’s a bit of a hellraiser. It’d be interesting to see how her emergence impacts the dynamic of the manor as a whole. I’m not interested in a redemption arc; Haven is the product of her situation, absolutely, but that isn’t an excuse, and I don’t want to treat it as such.

[daresplaining]

The Defenders Trailer #1 Analysis

    Here’s our analysis of the first Defenders trailer... just in time for the second one! (Right, Marvel?)

    To start, one detail we really like is that they’ve managed to maintain the distinct color palettes of the different shows. Jessica’s shots in the trailer are purple-tinged, Luke’s are yellow, Matt’s are red, and Danny’s are green. The scenes in which all four characters appear together are either very colorful (e.g. the restaurant where they have their team dinner, later in the trailer) or colorless (the stark white hallway scene). The dedication to these color motifs is very cool, and from what we can tell so far, it seems to work without being jarring or obtrusive.  

    Since this show is only going to be eight episodes long, and has four main characters, we’re very curious to see how much screentime the massive number of secondary protagonists are going to get. It’s a relief to see that Misty will be tied to Jessica’s investigative activities, since that means we’ll likely see a reasonable amount of her.       

    Massive kudos to everyone involved for recreating this scene from Alias #3 almost panel for panel! We love that Jessica and Matt meet this way, and are thrilled that they pulled directly from the source material to give us the live action equivalent.  

    This also answers the question of whether or not Matt is still doing legal work. 

    Here we have our first glimpses of post-prison Luke-- including his renewed romantic relationship with Claire. Having escaped from under the specter of being an escaped convict, he now has the freedom to live and work and exist in the world the way he chooses, and we can’t wait to see his efforts to rebuild his life, and the choices he makes from here. Clearly, he has permanently owned his identity as a superhero and public figure, which means he has likely completed the process of accepting his powers as well. Having been forced into the superhero situation in Luke Cage, he is now actively making the choice to continue helping people. The big question now is: what form will this help take? We feel like they could have pulled off making him a hero for hire in his solo show, but we understand why they didn’t. There are all sorts of ethical questions it would have brought up (many people accused him of being heartless and only in it for the money in his early comics appearances), which would have gotten in the way of the story. However, now-- being jobless-- there’s a chance he could consider it. But since he’s going to be pretty busy in this show, that might not come up in any concrete form until Luke Cage Season 2.  

    It will also be interesting to see what his attitude is toward the team-up. He might actually enjoy it, barring any potential awkwardness with Jessica. And hey, the Hand doesn’t have Judas bullets. 

    ...Probably. 

    Given that this only takes place a month after Iron Fist, we’re guessing that Danny and Colleen will have only just returned from the Himalayas by the time the show starts, or will return in the first episode-or-so. Finn Jones’s comments about Danny having vital information about what the Hand are up to suggests that, beyond the revelations about the group in Iron Fist, he and Colleen may discover something new while investigating K’un-Lun’s disappearance between shows. We’re wondering if this new information could have something to do with the “lost city” mentioned in this NY Bulletin article:   

    (Here’s a theory we’ve been playing with: Alexandra and the Hand are connected in some way to the eighth Capital City of Heaven from Immortal Iron Fist.)      

    Colleen is another secondary protagonist who-- thanks to her close ties to the Hand and shared storyline with Danny-- will likely be integral to the main plot. Jessica Henwick provided a little hint of Colleen’s character arc in an interview with Entertainment Weekly: 

“We pick up with Colleen not in New York — which is crazy, as all the shows have been predominantly in New York. We find her a month after we left her. [...] She hasn’t been able to deal with the emotional trauma she dealt with in Iron Fist, so it builds to a head and she explodes in Defenders.”

    This is more strong evidence that both Danny and Colleen will still be out of the country when the show starts. We found Colleen’s shortage of character development to be one of Iron Fist’s few weak areas, so we are excited for the rest of the fallout from her falling-out with the Hand, and to see how she handles the extremely personal nature of this show’s plotline. We’re expecting some reappearances by Bakuto, and probably from some of Colleen’s former students. It’s gonna hurt...

    Finally, we love Danny’s modern era comics-style haircut! (Colleen, this is your cue. Red hair dye. Stat.) We don’t need an in-universe reason for a small change like this, but we wonder if there will be one.

    This is one of the most intriguing shots in the trailer. The weapons lying all over the place make it seem like this is a Hand base, but we’re interested in the containers on the far left. Drugs? Something connected to the blood harvesting project (which may or may not be Black Sky or resurrection-related)? IGH? If we keep saying the Hand is connected to IGH, it’ll end up being true, right? 

    We have waited so long, and we’re finally getting a live action Power Man and Iron Fist adaptation! (Please... if you haven’t read Power Man and Iron Fist Volume 1, do yourself a huge favor and get that into your life.) They’ve been teasing the heck out of this most beautiful of friendships for a while both in the actual shows and during promo events, so it’s a thrill to finally have reached this point. It will be interesting to see how their dynamic evolves, since there are some key distinctions between 616 Luke and Danny and MCU Luke and Danny. To start, MCU Luke’s personality is markedly different from that of his comics counterpart. In the comics, he’s a loud, aggressive guy, known for violent tendencies and a short temper. When he first meets Danny, he is in a particularly nasty emotional uproar because he is being blackmailed, and his loved ones’ lives are in danger. However, in the MCU they’ve mellowed him down to a considerable degree-- likely to avoid invoking the “big angry black man” stereotype that’s present in the source material. 

    In Danny, we see the opposite change. 616 Danny is a very angry, serious, emotionally confused guy in his early appearances, having just left his home behind in order to commit murder. However, through connecting with Colleen and Misty and orienting himself in his new life, he calms down, and has taken on the gentler, friendlier persona he’s best known for by the time he meets Luke. In the moment of their first encounter he’s not exactly in a great mood, because Luke has just punched out his best friend and his girlfriend, but he’s reasonably quick to forgive once he gets a sense of the situation. However, given the brilliant scrambling of his revenge quest in the show, MCU Danny has not had the chance to settle down in this way-- and has actually gone through the opposite character progression. Over the course of Iron Fist he has his optimism and kindness stripped away, leaving him angry and frustrated and on-edge by the final episode. We can’t imagine the revelation in the very last scene of the show did much to help this emotional turmoil, so it will likely transfer over into at least the first few episodes of The Defenders. 

    Will having a calm Luke and an angry Danny instead of an angry Luke and a calm Danny make a difference in their relationship? It’s hard to say. However, one thing we do know is that it’ll result in something that’s a priority for us: a big knock-down, drag-out fight! This is the nature of their first encounter in the comics as well, and we consider it to be a very important bonding experience for both of them. Danny punches Luke through several walls and drops a building on him, Luke gets right back up and keeps fighting, and by the end of the confrontation they are both extremely impressed with each other. In an ideal world, the live action version would be just as wild and building-destroying, but what matters most is that the bonding fight happens. We’re eager to see what will cause it in this universe, since that will directly affect how long it takes for them to become BFFs afterward. 

    This is a beautiful shot.

    Tell ‘em, Danny!

    We mentioned this in our Iron Fist commentary, but one gap in the MCU’s rendition of the mythos is an explanation of the “immortal” epithet. We love that Danny uses it, because of the geek-out factor, but it still needs to make sense in-universe. In the comics, it refers to the fact that K’un-Lun and its citizens are immortal, and also to the fact that the Iron Fist position will (in theory) always be around. This may be the reasoning in the show as well-- but it’s something we feel they should explain, because to non-comics readers it probably seems kind of random. Maybe it’ll come up in The Defenders.         

    Unsurprisingly, it seems that Claire is the person responsible for bringing Luke and Danny together-- finally reaching her full capacity as the link between shows. She may be the one who sends Matt to help Jessica as well. 

    Luke and Danny, sizing each other up. Unstoppable force meets immovable object.

    ...Now hug.  

    There have been quite a few shots like this in these shows, of characters studying themselves in mirrors. It’s generally meant to imply self-reflection and contemplation. This specific variety-- in which a character stares into a fogged-up bathroom mirror after taking a shower-- contains an added element of vulnerability and implied regret, and usually indicates that they’ve just been through a traumatic event. Sure enough, Danny has a nasty-looking slice across his chest. 

    Logic suggests that he probably got it from Elektra-- though if this show goes for maximum trauma, which it might, we could guess it might be from Colleen somehow...  

    But probably Elektra.  

    Exhibit A: Jessica Jones drinking alone in a closed bar, during what looks like the middle of the day.    

    We know three key things about Jessica’s current state of being: she is still operating as a P.I., except now (in theory) she has more emotional support in the form of Malcolm and Trish; she has become semi-well-known and popular thanks to her fight with Kilgrave, and isn’t sure how to handle the fame; and she’s still struggling with the trauma of everything that happened in Jessica Jones Season 1. Getting pulled into a team-up is not going to help with any of this-- apart from allowing her to reconnect with Luke, and introducing her to more people who might possibly serve as a support network, whether she wants one or not. She and Matt are the two people who we imagine are going to be most hesitant about the team-up, and Jessica will likely be the most open and loud about not wanting to be involved. In fact, since Malcolm and Trish will both be appearing in this show, we wonder if they might have a role in convincing her to help out. 

    We can't wait to see how she reacts to the magic ninjas. She’s going to have some great reactions to the magic ninjas, we can guarantee it. 

    Okay, listen.

    Can uh... can we please just call him ‘Daredevil’? He’s Daredevil. That’s his code name. Never mind showing respect for the source material, etc., etc.-- he’s been Daredevil for two years in the MCU. “The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen” was all well and good (well... not terrible, anyway) as a semi-believable build-up to him acquiring his actual name, but it’s a silly-sounding mouthful and there’s no reason for anyone to still be using it. All of the praise we’ve given to Luke Cage and Iron Fist for owning the superheroic/non-grounded elements of their comics is completely negated by this utter unwillingness to use Matt’s actual dang superhero name!   

    Sorry. Just had to get that out of our collective system. Moving on...    

    Hooray, a nice look at Matt’s costume (which looks pretty much the same as it did last season)-- including a great close-up of his billy clubs. We can’t wait to see him use the grapple line some more in this show, and we’re still holding out for someday getting the double-Ds. 

    The hero we need.

    Our guess is that Luke’s time in prison won’t extend beyond the first episode. This could even be his introductory scene. We would love to get a long, drawn-out plotline in which his name is cleared, because that’s a vital step in his story, but we highly suspect that there won’t be time for it. In many ways, it would have been nice to get Luke Cage Season 2 before The Defenders, so that this plot point could be properly developed.  As it stands, we’re expecting maybe one or two scenes to cover Luke being at Seagate and then getting released.    

    (Cue some long, gratuitous gushing about how good the Iron Fist looks. ...And the Chi of Shou-Lao looks nice too. *Rimshot*)

    Sorry. Anyway. We are absolutely psyched to see Stick interact with Danny. This is partly because, as Stick fans, we enjoy seeing him interact with anyone and everyone. But mostly, it’s because we cannot wait to see what the Chaste’s relationship with K’un-Lun and the Iron Fist is like in this universe. As two major forces that have been battling the Hand for centuries, it would make sense for them to be aware of each other. But at the same time, the intel discrepancy between the Chaste and K’un-Lun indicates that they may not be in regular contact with each other-- or possibly have never even interacted before now. (For more details, see this post.) How does Stick feel about Iron Fists? Madame Gao, despite her Hand affiliations and understandable disregard for most people, showed a small degree of respect-- sometimes veering slightly toward kindness-- for Danny, likely due to his rank. Stick doesn’t really respect anyone-- at least, not to their face-- but we’re eager to see what kind of relationship he and Danny will have. 

    Guess who’s baaack!

    We’re not sure what to make of this, though it would make the most sense to assume that it’s part of the Black Sky’s power set. It also reminds us a bit of Madame Gao’s telekinesis-like trademark move, only on a much larger scale. 

    We finally have our first serious glimpse of Alexandra. She’s still very much a mystery, but Stephanie Maslansky, the head costume designer for the Marvel Netflix shows, let this slip in an interview a few weeks ago: “...She’s the head of an ancient organization, which is grounded in the comics. [...] I hope that her wardrobe reflects that kind of ancientness.” It feels almost too obvious for her to be leading the Hand, but that’s the direction all of the evidence seems to be pointing. The “ancient organization”, if not the Hand itself, could possibly be Snakeroot, the group at the heart (palm?) of the Hand that deals with Beast-related activities. And it seems likely that, as with Madame Gao and Nobu and likely Bakuto, she’s probably functionally immortal.      

    We can already tell we’re going to love this scene! It’s always awesome when Matt fights in civvies. In fact, he’s out of costume for nearly the entire trailer-- and even when he is shown wearing the suit, he has his mask off. In the restaurant scene later on Alexandra sees his face, which-- coupled with her “the more connections you have, the easier it will be to break you” line-- is worrying. Why is he being so careless? 

    Is too much to ask for Matt to be driving this car? We need to get a scene of Matt driving at least once in these shows. It’s an Iconic Daredevil Thing(TM).

    Also, this is the same restaurant as the one in the following clips, meaning this crash may be part of the same scene.  

   (Maybe the rest of the Chaste are driving the car. The Chastemobile.)

    This is clearly a giant, pivotal moment in the show, as it involves team bonding (as we see later in the trailer), Stick, and even Alexandra. A big thank you to the people who pointed out that Stick seems to be missing his right hand-- or possibly his entire arm-- in this scene (which uh, gives us high hopes for Misty...). While Stick appears alongside the team in a separate scene in this trailer, our guess is that his decision to stagger into the restaurant and get them up off their butts takes place after a big development-- possible after he and the Chaste have been thoroughly stomped by Elektra and the Hand. This would explain the arm situation, and his renewed interest in getting help despite having judged Matt to be unready for the war. 

    Also... Matt has his glasses off in this scene! Either he’s grown extremely comfortable around everyone really quickly (which is possible, but... doubtful), or something’s happened to them. They were cracked in a few of the leaked set photos, so they may get completely destroyed at some point. 

    Presumably Elektra (this is the same sword she’s carrying a few shots later, during the hallway fight), giving off some major Darth Vader vibes. 

    This is very exciting. There was a sad shortage of leaping off rooftops in Daredevil Season 2, so we’re relieved that there’ll be some in The Defenders. There’s a balance that’s necessary for these types of scenes, and we don’t think they’ve quite found it yet. One of the important lessons the DD Netflix show learned from the movie is that you cannot replicate comics Matt’s extreme parkouring in live action in a way that looks good. (Or at least, it’s very difficult, and the movie didn’t manage it.) It needs to be dialed down to something slightly more realistic and, well, physically possible for someone without a building-hopping power set. However, we think they went too far. Matt’s parkouring in DD Season 1 was a lot of fun, but it was very... safe parkouring (if there is such a thing). He’s called Daredevil, after all (...Aha! Maybe this is why they’re so hesitant to call him Daredevil! Mystery solved?) and taking risks is his signature thing. Danny’s daredeviling scene in Iron Fist Episode 3 was great, and we’re hoping for something closer to that level of risk-taking-- at the very least!-- in Matt’s future.      

    It’s funny-- these were the original subtitles, and then they must have realized the mistake and changed them. 

    It’s pretty clear at this point that the rest of the team is going to learn Matt’s secret identity. We also know that the four of them run into each other for the first time at Midland Circle-- so this may be their first-ever team-up. That’s a record for secret identity leakage, even for Matt. They also find out that he’s blind, meaning they probably know about his powers-- which is a much more significant secret to Matt than even his secret identity. We can’t wait to see how that reveal happens. 

    The banter between Matt and Jessica in this show is going to be amazing. They’re both snarky people with loud opinions and iron wills, and all evidence suggests that they are going to bounce off each other in really entertaining ways. 

    We’d guessed in the initial teaser that he was wearing Jessica’s scarf, and we love it. She also wears that thing all the time, and we know she doesn’t do much laundry, so... good luck, Matt. This is why you need a costume that fits under civvies.   

    And of course, we’re getting the Ultimate Hallway Fight-- clearly part of the same scene as the elevator ride from the teaser.  While we have semi-mixed feelings about this having become a recurring thing (the original hallway fight in Daredevil Season 1 served a very specific purpose, which has been lost in most of the subsequent versions), we mostly think they’re super awesome, so we’re excited about this. We mentioned the colors in this scene earlier-- how the whiteness of the hallway doesn’t integrate any of the character-specific color schemes. This creates an alienating effect, in which all of our heroes seem out of place and isolated. It’s also a callback to the coding in Daredevil Season 1, in which bright white spaces embodied themes of inhumanity, greed, and corruption. Clearly, Midland Circle is corporate-style bad news... but of course, we already knew that.     

    A few details we particularly love: 

    -The fact that Luke, Danny, and Jessica are tearing through people in the front, and Matt’s in the background just beating on that one guy. Keep on keeping on, Matt. 

    -The fact that Elektra is just strolling along behind the action, watching them tire themselves out. It’s terrifying and hilarious at the same time. 

    -Danny’s yellow shoes! We doubt he’ll ever wear the little yellow slippers in this universe, so we appreciate this nod to them. 

    Finally... this is a very strange hallway. What’s with the glass panels?

    Hooray! Welcome back, El. Obviously, we have a lot of questions about Elektra in her new status as a recently resurrected person and (presumably) fully-activated Black Sky. Iron Fist gave us some great information about the former, at least. In the comics, those brought back from the dead by the Hand fall completely under their control. This would have been an easy explanation for how Elektra might become an antagonist in this show-- but as Harold Meachum’s efforts to fight the Hand (even after coming back twice) demonstrate, it doesn’t seem to be true in this universe. Instead, the resurrection results in a loss of humanity, which depletes the victim’s capacity for love and empathy and turns them violent.

    This, layered on top of Elektra’s skills and predisposition for killing, would make her massively dangerous, but wouldn’t necessarily result in a willingness to help the Hand. She rejected them in Daredevil Season 2, after all, and getting skewered by Nobu probably didn’t make her any more enamored of them. The one factor we don’t know anything about is what effect becoming a fully realized Black Sky will have on her. Maybe it involves some form of mental numbing or brainwashing, and demonic possession is still a very real possibility. She’s clearly doing the Hand’s bidding to a certain degree here, and the details of how that happened are still ripe for speculation. 

    Look! A handy metaphor for Matt’s mental state once he discovers what’s happened to Elektra. 

    It seems pretty clear from this shot that Black Sky Elektra has super strength. It’s also notable that she decides to just hit Matt, rather than gutting him with her sword. This, coupled with how long she waits before even entering the fight, suggests two possibilities to us: that she’s been told to keep them alive, or that she’s fighting whatever control she’s under. 

    Also, we’re digging her new costume. The red is visually striking (and is both a reference her new Hand alliance and her 616 outfit), and the loincloth-style flappy bits actually look kind of cool, since she’s wearing *gasp* pants underneath them! Well done again, costuming team. Our only nitpick is that having her hair loose and in her face makes no sense. 

    Danny being extremely enthusiastic about the team-up, and Jessica being extremely unenthusiastic about the team-up, is spot-on and hilarious. Jessica is not at all a team player, while Danny is desperately searching for a purpose and for somewhere to belong. These two are going to have a fascinating dynamic, and we can’t wait to see how it plays out. Jessica and Danny have a bit of a bumpy start to their friendship in the comics, and while they do grow very close (they essentially become family, and Jessica and Luke name their daughter after Danny), they have also been known to have a difficult time reading each other because they have such different personalities. Since both of them are at much more unsettled points in their character arcs in the MCU than when they meet in the comics, we’re expecting a lot of friction between them-- which is going to hurt to watch, but should also lead to some interesting interactions. 

    “...Flying alcoholic?”

    There is a lot to be excited about here. Three more months, and counting!